


StrayKids: Behind the scenes

by staystray04



Series: StrayKids: I'm not YOU but I am with YOU [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alpha Kim Woojin, Alpha Lee Felix (Stray Kids), Alpha Lee Minho | Lee Know, Alpha Yang Jeongin | I.N, Alternate Universe, Angst, Background stories, Character Background, Character Death, Fear, Fireflies, Flashbacks, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Minho's Cats - Freeform, Multi, No Smut, Omega Han Jisung | Han, Omega Seo Changbin, Omegaverse, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Build, Survival, apartment-tower, characterizations, getting closer, i am you, it's just the extra scenes for the first part of this series, it's not them, what is bang chan?, ww3-AU, you already know it, youll understand the tags once you read the scenes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:47:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 61,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23630317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staystray04/pseuds/staystray04
Summary: Find additional and/or cut-out-Scenes to the first part of this series (book StrayKids)!Read about the character's Backgrounds, their relationships and daily life here in this work! I hope, you guys enjoy it!
Relationships: Bang Chan/Kim Woojin, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin
Series: StrayKids: I'm not YOU but I am with YOU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700938
Comments: 73
Kudos: 210





	1. #1: Scene between Jisung and Minho

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scene between Minho and Jisung  
> Setting: the apartment-tower; a few days after Jisung‘s first hunt

It was a few days after his hunt with Jisung, that Minho realized, that he was being followed.

At first, he thought, it was just a series of coincidences, but the more he payed attention to his surroundings, the more often he was able to spot his stalker.

No matter where he went, Jisung's observing eyes would trail after him, and Minho was beginning to feel a little awkward.  
He had tested out, whether the young omega would follow him out of the main hall of the apartment-tower as well, but Jisung never dared to sneak after him, as soon as he left for the upper or lower stories. 

Minho soon realized, that the squirrel-like boy always stuck to one of his friends.  
If neither of Jisung's pack-mates was near, the omega stayed as far away from Minho as possible.  
But as soon as one of his friends was around, the omega got more daring, even going as far as sitting down beside Minho with only about two meters of space between them.

Somehow, despite his resemblance of a squirrel, Jisung reminded Minho more of a cat – an animal species he had come to know and like back in the city, where the small creatures liked to live. 

The boy was extremely curious and feisty, yet too shy and careful to ever really dare to confront Minho directly. 

At least until now.

Minho was busy putting order into the pile of wood they stored just around the corner of one of the back exits, when suddenly, his nose picked up on Jisung's sweet scent, that seemed to be closing in. 

True to his senses, Minho was able to spot the omega's form a few meters away from himself.  
The boy had sat himself down on the ground, not even bothering to hide that he was observing Minho. His slightly widened eyes were set on the alpha and he was shamelessly staring at the older, not wavering once.

Minho let his own gaze wander a little further and he was able to recognize Chan and Changbin at the campfire, where the two friends were currently sorting through their bedding to figure out, what had to be washed.  
So that was, why Jisung was this bold right now!

At first, Minho chose to ignore the omega, simply carrying on with his task.  
Jeongin and Woojin were currently out to collect a little more wood and his older friend needed the rest of their timber sorted before they returned with new ones.

Originally, Jisung had been in task of getting water and fruits, together with Felix, but since Minho was able to pick up on the freckled alpha's scent as well, he guessed, that the both of them were already done.

A few minutes, he went on with re-positioning fallen branches and wood, but when he caught Jisung inching a little closer for the third time, he couldn't help the annoyance that started to boil within him.  
To top it off, the omega's scent was also getting stronger, the closer he came and it somehow distracted Minho greatly.

Placing down a stack of wood unnecessary hard, Minho turned to the omega, pushing his hands into his hips.

“What is your deal?”

He meant to hiss the words to not catch Chan's attention and draw out the blond's suspicion, but somehow, the leader looked up at his tone nonetheless.

Probably because he hadn't really hissed but rather growled.

Jisung flinched a little but only bared his teeth right back without giving up his spot on the floor.  
“I'm just watching you!”, he gave back defensively, his brown eyes carrying a stubborn spark. 

His returned aggression riled Minho up even further and he had to fight his inner wolf down vehemently to be able to prevent another loud growl from slipping out.  
If Chan heard him attacking Jisung like this, Minho was sure, he would be dead meat.

“Let me rephrase!”, he therefore pressed out with forced calmness.  
“Why are you staring at me? Why have you been observing me for the past few days?”

The accusation seemed to catch Jisung a little off guard, because the omega stayed quiet and finally avoided Minho's heated gaze, which already seemed to sooth his inner wolf a little.  
Allowing himself to relax a bit, Minho took in a deep breath, as he waited for the omega's answer.  
This was unnecessary!  
He didn't need to explode like this and give Jisung the power to rile him up this badly!  
Jisung was nothing to him!

“You're weird!”

Okay, Minho certainly hadn't expected that kind of answer.

“I'm weird?”, he asked in disbelief.  
“You are the one who has been following me around for the past few days and sat down right beside me just to stare at me!”

At least now, Minho was able to speak normally and not bark his words out.  
He was grateful for that.  
Always forcing control was not something he did easily and it costed him a lot of stress and nerves.  
It wasn't like he voluntarily wanted to jump the young omega.  
He just was so...infuriating!

Jisung's cheeks puffed up a little and the gesture for some reason had a soothing effect on Minho.  
He was okay! This was just Jisung! Jisung was annoying, but that was nothing new!  
He could handle this!

“Well, I followed you, because you are kind of weird!”, the omega now explained while still avoiding Minho's gaze, starting to worry his lower lip.  
“And I wanted to know, why!”

Since the omega wasn't sporting any new aggression, Minho dared to allow himself to believe, that his inner wolf was done with his tantrum. 

Jisung looked genuinely confused, and because Minho didn't feel capable of working effectively, while the omega was staring him down, he chose to take a break.  
If he helped Jisung, maybe he could bully the other into taking over his task of piling up the remaining wood!

When he slumped down in the empty doorframe of the back exit, Jisung's head shot up again, his eyes attentively scanning Minho with a slightly tense posture,  
When the alpha didn't move any further, however, Jisung's inner wolf seemed to come to the conclusion, that he was safe for now and the boy relaxed again, going back to staring at Minho.

The alpha himself felt slightly uncomfortable.  
What was he supposed to do now? Simply stay here and wait, until Jisung managed to figure out his inner quarrel?

“Your hair!”

“Huh?”

Minho was so perplexed, that he didn't understand, wat Jisung was talking about at first.  
Only when younger pointed at his head, did the alpha understand.

“It looks different from Binnie's and Channie-hyung's!”

Minho dared to cock his head to the side a bit.  
“O...kay?”, he mumbled.  
What was Jisung trying to tell him with that? 

The omega was still staring at his hair – or so Minho assumed – and wasn't meeting his gaze.  
Minho wasn't exactly sure, what was driving him to take his next step, but the words were out his mouth before he realized it.

“Do you want to touch it?”

Jisung's eyes widened shortly and Minho could have betted, his own did the same.  
What the fuck did he just say?

While Minho was busy with inwardly slapping himself repeatedly, Jisung's initial shock seemed to die down a little again.  
Now a rather curious expression on his face, the omega leaned forward in his sitting position.

“Would you let me?”, he questioned, excitement dancing in his eyes.  
“Felix wouldn't because he said he didn't like it!”

Ignoring the little sting inside him at the knowledge, that apparently, Jisung had asked Felix first, Minho shrugged.  
“I don't really care, as long as your hands are clean!”, he offered. 

There had been a time, when Jeongin and Seungmin had come up with the glorious idea to style his hair with mud while he was asleep.  
It had taken Minho hours to get the baked dirt out of his strands again and ever since then, he had some trust issues.  
Especially, since he wouldn't put it past Jisung to come up with the exact same prank.

“They are clean!”, Jisung assured immediately while holding his palms up to support his statement.  
Since they looked indeed not dirty, Minho nodded in approval.

It seemed as if Jisung didn't need more of a sign, because the omega began scooting closer carefully, his eyes not leaving Minho for even a second.  
He still looked somewhat alert, so Minho forced himself to stay completely still as to not scare Jisung away. 

It was like taming one of the cats back at the city!

With a treat in his hand, Minho had always waited, completely unmoving to not impose a threat on the agile creatures, until they had been too curious to stay away from him any longer.  
And when they had finally dared to sneak closer, he had relaxed himself and waited for them to overcome their own fear and build up some trust.

Three cat's approval he had earned back then and Minho was still proud of it.  
Now, it seemed, he had a new challenge to conquer.

When Jisung was finally close enough, sitting right in front of Minho, the omega threw him another probing glance.  
He really was like a cat. Checking one last time, if Minho really wouldn't move.  
It made Minho smile a bit.

He tried to ease his own scent a bit - something he had learned, scared cats off pretty easily if it was too strong – and lowered his head slightly to allow Jisung better access to his hair.

Carefully, the omega reached out, until his hand hovered over Minho's head.  
After a second of consideration, the omega finally allowed his fingers to run through Minho's strands.

It was a surprisingly pleasant feeling.  
Normally, Minho didn't like it, when Woojin ruffled his hair, but with Jisung, it somehow didn't seem to bother him too much.  
The omega's touch was soft and still careful, as he combed his fingers through Minho's bangs and the older felt himself heave a small sigh.  
This relaxation he currently felt was so much easier to handle compared to this heated rush of energy that normally overtook him whenever jisung was near.  
It felt nice.

A moment later, Jisung pulled his hand back with sparkling eyes.

“Soft!”, he mumbled under his breath and Minho was sure, that the omega hadn't meant for him to hear it.  
He himself was almost a little disappointed, that the moment seemed to be over already.

“Will you stop staring at me now and let me work in peace?”, Minho eventually asked dryly, as he got up again.  
The movement seemed to scare Jisung, because the omega tensed and jumped to his feet as well, his body taking in a position that would have looked normal to simple bystanders.  
But Minho could see the omega's true intention behind his mask.  
Jisung was on the run and if he dared to make a suspicious movement, the omega would bolt!

Again, he couldn't help the smile tugging at the corners of his lips.  
Jisung really was like a cat!

To not shoo the omega off on purpose, Minho took one slight step back.  
Jisung relaxed.

“Thank you for letting me pet you!”, the omega beamed. 

Minho almost choked on his own spit.  
“Excuse me?”

Jisung's eyes were widened in fake innocence, but Minho could see the mischievous glint sparkling within them.

“Yah!”, he growled, his inner wolf rising from his slumber again.  
“Don't call it that! That was not the original intention!”

Grinning, Jisung jumped backwards to put a safe distance between himself and Minho.  
“It was mine!”, he retorted with a snicker before waving Minho shortly.  
“Thanks again!”

Then, and with the speed of lightning, he bolted away and dove into the safety of Chan's presence, where he settled beside his leader.  
The blond mumbled something into his younger firend's direction that sounded kind of chastising to Minho, but he wasn't able to understand the words being said.

Too busy he was with fighting down the rush of blood in his ears and his squirming inner wolf.

How did Jisung always manage to rile it up again?  
It was a mystery to him. 

Shooting the omega one last glare, Minho grumbled to himself and returned to his prior task of stacking the wood up.

Screw Jisung!  
That guy was in no way like a cat! He was not cute at all and nowhere as nice either!

Minho scoffed.  
Or maybe he was! That one stupid grumpy cat with the scarred ear he had once met was kind of like the omega, right?  
Back then, no matter how many treats he had given that bastard, it had always left scratches on his arms nonetheless! 

Nodding to himself, Minho finished his task.  
Yeah, jisung was like that cat!

He turned around, looking back at the small group at the campfire once more.

Only now did he remember that the cat he was thinking off, had had some really bad experiences with other people.  
Minho had often seen the other children of his part of the town chase and throw rocks at it because of it‘s demolished right ear that made it look not as cute as the other cats.

Minho had liked it nonetheless, but the brown cat hadn’t known that of course.

Which was probably, why it had distrusted him as well.

Jisung was currently busy teasing Changbin and Minho tilted his head in thought.  
Was Jisung like that cat? 

He realized, he had no clue.  
It was another mystery, for which he had no information to solve it with. Not yet at least!

Slowly striding back into the main hall, Minho headed for the campfire. He would get behind this!  
He would earn that cat's trust!


	2. #2: Minho's past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> how Minho grew up in the remains of Seoul and joined Woojin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: mention's of rape/non-con! (not detailed tho)
> 
> Anyways, i looked at a map of south Korea and Seoul for the purpose of my book and realized, the way i desribed the nature and landscape there is in no way possible for the climatic conditions over there. ALso, in my book, i put the mountains in the west, which is not possible in south Korea (the mountain ranges are all in the east, but hey, what's reality?)  
> So instead of chinging everything, i Chose to just Keep it. I was never good at researching, please forgive me! Chan's injury already drew all of my knowledge and energy because i had no idea of medical Topics (yes i am s stupid ass sometimes...)  
> Oh well, i hope you still enjoy this totally not believable fic, located in Fantasy south Korea after the third world war! Have fun!;)

The setting sun was already painting the upper parts of the buildings around Minho red, when he finally entered the main road again, that led to the old building where him and his mother were staying for the time being. 

It had been a rather hot day in the city and despite the looming darkness, that crept closer with every passing moment, Minho was still able to feel the warmth radiating off the brittle concrete beneath his shoes.

Careful to not make any traitorous noise that could lead other citizens right to him, Minho walked down the street.   
To his right, the ruins of abandoned skyscrapers reached into the sky like desperate claws. 

Fortunately, Seoul hadn't gotten attacked as heavily as other parts of the world during the third world war.   
Only a few bombs had gone down on the city and that was, why now, the destroyed remains of once mighty buildings bordered barely harmed houses. 

The latter often got used as shelter for the people, who had managed to survive the harsh life after the war, and Minho was not keen on luring anyone out of the shadows of their personal misery.   
He knew, the bag he was carrying with him over his shoulder was all too enticing for any kind of hungry bystander and so he hurried forward, his pace quick and his steps light.

Walking in total silence had never been a problem for him as he had to perfect that skill pretty early on, but something way more difficult was to make sure, that no one would see him, while he entered his home.

Normally, people minded their own business, since it was still an unspoken rule, that killing another human was seen as high treason, but Minho knew, that hunger and fear were strong driving forces that often managed to end the nagging voice of one's conscience.

That was why with every three steps, he took a moment to let his gaze wander over his slowly darkening surroundings, scanning every possible corner for any kind of evidence, that he was being watched or followed, before he continued on down his respective path.

By the time, Minho finally reached the run-down building he had left his mother at this morning, the sky was already a dark blue, that bordered on black with the first stars occasionally blinking up.

Throwing one last look back over his shoulder, Minho ducked and entered the house through a narrow hole in the wall, that was barely big enough for him to push himself through.   
He even had to throw his bag in first to fit and even then, his entrance was accompanied by a lot of suppressed panting, before he finally was able to rise to his feet again.

Heaving up the bundle once more, Minho used his foot to push aside some wooden planks on the floor to reveal the staircase of the buildings basement, before he carefully started descending the old wooden steps.   
It actually was a wonder to him, how this part of the house hadn't crashed yet.   
The wood was pretty unstable in his eyes, but so far, the stairs had withstand his every trip outside.

During his way down, Minho was barely able to see a hand in front of his eyes, but that changed immediately, when he passed the heavy curtain, that served as the door of the basement's main room.  
The orange shine of a fire greeted him as soon as he entered the place and Minho allowed himself to heave a sigh.   
His mother had come back safely as well! They were okay!

The whole room got alighted by the fire, that was burning in the old remains of the house's chimney.   
His mother was sitting on the dirty sheets they used as a bed, but when her tired gaze fell on Minho, she quickly scrambled to her feet.

“Minho! Finally!”

She sounded genuinely relieved as she went to hug the alpha.

“Mum, it's okay, I go out to hunt every day!”, he reassured her while awkwardly patting her frail back.   
Her spine almost cut his hand with how sharply it was standing out.   
Minho grit his teeth. He really needed to catch more for them to eat!

Letting him go with obvious reluctance, his mother set her concerned gaze on his face, examining him.

“But it took you longer today!”, she whispered.   
“And this very afternoon I saw an alpha sneaking around not too far away from here, so I was worried you might accidentally meet during your hunt!”

Immediately, Minho felt himself grow alert.   
Another person? It wasn't something uncommon to meet others.   
He himself had searched for the few farmers, that had settled down near the river, to trade one of the animals he had caught.   
Thanks to his still child-like face and ability to let himself look like the epitome of misery, the other people often got weak and traded him way more than his prey would have been worth.

But Minho wasn't worried about himself.   
No, even with thirteen years, he was already capable of handling himself out there between the gray walls of stone and broken glass.   
To top things off, ever since he had presented as an alpha not too long ago, he had found out, that two of his senses were exceptionally more distinct, which gave him an advantage on the hunt, as well as during his daily game of avoiding as much people as possible.   
So no, Minho wasn't worried about himself.

He was worried about his mother.

Courtesy of her weird disease, his mother was weaker than her age normally would let on and to top things off, she was an omega.   
Minho had met plenty of strong omegas, but despite that, he knew, that many people out there liked to picture his mother's second gender as weak.   
And he was also aware, that many alphas liked to rob omegas of something more than just supplies. 

He had seen it before, during a nightly hunting trip with his mother, those two dark figures on the ground within a small alleyway.   
Had heard the muffled grunts and cries for help.   
The victim had been a dainty omegian girl he had met on the street once or twice before, and something strong inside Minho's chest had pushed him to help, despite him not having presented yet at that time.   
But before he could do anything, his mother had already grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him away, back into the shadows of the night.

That had been the day, Minho had learned, that omega's always had to fear more than just the basic dangers of a person's daily life.   
And it also had been the moment where he swore to himself, that he would never allow another alpha to touch his mother.

“They didn't follow you, did they?”, he questioned tensely.   
His mother shook her head, her grainy strands of hair swinging a bit with the movement.   
Minho would have to take her back to the river soon to she could wash herself properly. 

Water always also meant confrontation with other people, which was what he tried to avoid as much as possible, but he planned on bringing his mother in the early hours of morning.   
That was when most other people were still asleep, except for the hunters, but Minho had come to know, that other hunters, as well as the farmers, that lived near the river, were mostly harmless people, that did their own fair share to survive instead of taking from others.

Deciding to let the news about the stranger go for now, Minho shook his head a bit.

“I brought dinner!”, he exclaimed instead while crouching down beside the sack he had brought home with himself.   
When he pried it open, his haul from today got visible.   
It wasn't much.

One pigeon he had managed to catch in one of his traps and a few small vegetables.   
The latter he had traded against his other prey from this day, a rat.   
It had been a little bigger than the bird, but Minho tried to refrain from eating rats as much as possible. They were risky because of the many diseases they carried, how he had learned at school.

“Great job, Minho-ssi!”, his mother praised, her bony hand patting his shoulder lightly.   
“I myself found a few mushrooms and herbs that are eatable. Let's have dinner!”

Nodding, Minho scooped out the dead bird before handing his bag to his mother.   
Cooking vegetables was her job. He was in charge of preparing the meat.

Silence settled over their small home, as the both of them worked on their food.   
But the quiet only meant, that Minho was able to hear his mother's labored breathing even better.   
Had it gotten worse over the last few days? 

He wasn't sure. But she surely had become thinner ever since last summer. 

No matter how much he caught, it never seemed to be enough to prevent his mother from loosing weight, even though Minho always made sure to give her the bigger parts of their dinner.

“We will have to bring over water from the river, if it doesn't rain soon!”, his mother's voice suddenly disrupted the silence and ended his string of thoughts.   
Minho frowned.

“Is it empty already again?”

They had stocked up not too long ago.   
His mother, however, hummed in affirmation. 

“The both of us have been drinking a little more due to the heat!”, she explained. 

Nodding in understanding, Minho cocked his head to the side in thought.  
“How about we visit the river tomorrow morning!”, he then suggested. If they needed fresh water anyways, there was no need to delay his trip to the shore any further.   
“You are in need of a bath anyways!”

Not even bothering to turn around to him, his mother simply shrugged.   
"Sounds like a plan! I feel sticky due to all this sweat covering my skin anyways!”

“Okay, I'll wake you!”, Minho gave back before pulling out his small knife, that he always carried with him, and opened the thoroughly plucked birds belly to take out the intestines.  
They wouldn't go to waste thanks to his friend, that would probably come by a little later in the evening.

Once he was done, Minho fetched the wooden stick they used to roast their meat from the corner of the room and impaled the pigeons body to be able to hold it over their fire's flames. 

His mother was nearly done with cooking their vegetables in the small pot Minho had found in the upper story of their new home once and soon, the whole room was filled with the delicious smell of food.  
Minho only hoped, no one else would smell it too.

“Alright, I'm finished!”, his mother announced only a minute later.   
“How is the meat doing so far?”

Pulling his stick back, Minho poked the roasted bird.

“Looks done!”, he decided after a moment of contemplation.   
“We can eat!”

They settled down on the floor and Minho's mother handed him a bowl, filled with the soup she had created with the vegetables and the herbs.   
The bowl was slighly cracked on one side and Minho had to be careful not to cut himself on the sharp ends, but he was already used to that.   
At least they had managed to even find two bowls they could use for their purposes.

The soup tasted bland, just like the carrots and potatoes, but Minho downed it in a few gulps nonetheless.   
It was the first thing he had eaten ever since yesterday morning, so taste was not something he bothered enough to concern himself with.

The meat was more delicious, when he cut it into two halfs and handed his mother the bigger part.   
It was soft – characteristically for pigeons – and aromatic, sating the remains of Minho's hunger for now.   
He knew it would be back like the loyal companion it was, but for now, he felt content.

Suddenly, his mother set her own bowl down.

“Your friend is here!”, she commented dryly while pointing behind Minho and when he turned around, he found himself face to face with big yellow eyes.

“Soon-ie!”

Happily, Minho let the orange cat climb into his lap as he pet her small head.   
He had met Soon-ie a few weeks ago during one of his strolls and ever since then, he had worked hard to earn the cat's trust.   
By now, Soon-ie came by their home pretty often to collect the daily payment for her cuddles.

Leaning back a bit, Minho reached for the piece of wood, that he had used as a makeshift-plate for the intestines of the bird from before, and put it down in front of the cat in his lap.   
Purring, Soon-ie devoured her meal.

“At some point, she is gonna give you an infection or fleas!”, Minho's mother snorted, but despite her harsh words, she always allowed the cat to stay.

“Cat's clean themselves every day!”, Minho objected as he tickled Soon-ie's chin.   
“She's probably less dirty than you are at the moment!”

“Yah!”

His mother threw one of the small bones at him, that were the only thing to stay behind of the pigeon from before.   
Minho ducked away giggling. At times like this, the world didn't seem so harsh.

“We should sleep!”, he proposed nonetheless while setting down Soon-ie beside him to allow her to greet his mother as well.   
“Tomorrow we gotta rise early!”

Nodding in agreement, his mother reached for his empty bowl and got up to dump both of their tableware into the bucket with dirty and used water.   
It was the most effective way of keeping the the smell of food at a minimum to prevent other people and animals from catching up on it.   
The rest of the soup, she covered with a small rag.

Stiffling a yawn, Minho scrambled to his feet as well and kicked his shoes off.   
Then he went over to the other bucket they possessed, that was responsible for storing their fresh water. 

His mother was right, it was close to empty.   
Nonetheless, Minho allowed himself to reach for the small cup beside it and take a few sips to sate the burning thirst in the back of his throat, before he filled the cup anew and turned around to hand it to his waiting mother.

Once the both of them were done with roughly cleaning everything up for the night, Minho lay down on their sheets beside his mother.   
The floor was hard and the entire room smelled like soup and fire, but Minho had had worse already.   
He would rather have a roof above his head than get discovered by other people while being completely defenseless. 

His mother's frail body stuck against his and he would have liked to scoot away a little to be able to breathe easier and allow his own temperature to sink, but he knew, that his mother always got cold easily during the nights. 

So he stayed, pressed up against her, and listened to her ragged breaths as she fell asleep, before exhaustion took a toll on him as well.  
_____

(almost two years later)

It was a rather chilly day at the end of winter, that Minho's mother fell victim to her disease. 

Minho had been out most of the morning to hunt, since that was, when most of the animals came out of their hideouts to search for food themselves. 

His mother had gotten drastically weaker over the past two months and was now barely able to lift herself off their resting place.   
Minho had found some more blankets in nearby buildings to make it a little more comfortable for her, but nonetheless, he knew, that his mother's pain didn't only recite from her illness, if the bluish spots on her back were anything to go by.

Minho was entering through the back exit of the house, since he had gotten too big for the tiny hole in the front wall by now, when he heard his mother's coughing.   
It wasn't that unusual by now, but today, it sounded especially weak and yet threatening. 

Letting his bundle of food drop to the ground, Minho hurried into the main room, where he found hid mother on the floor, her frail body getting rocked by coughing fit after coughing fit.   
Hastily, he scooped some freshly boiled water out of their pot and held her head still to force her to drink. 

It took a few moments, but eventually, she calmed down enough to be able to take a few ragged breaths.   
Minho could hear the rattling of her destroyed lungs and the unsteady beating of her weak heart.   
He had never questioned, what it was that slowly killed his mother, because he had always known, thanks to his enhanced sense of hearing.   
The only thing he had no clue of, was why.

It was not a contagious disease, or so it seemed, because while his mother grew weaker by the day, Minho himself got taller and stronger.   
His legs became powerful enough to assist him during his hunts, his lungs widened to allow his stamina to increase.   
Not once had Minho gotten ill and he couldn't shake the feeling that in some weird way, that he couldn't explain, it seemed as if his mother caught all the diseases before they could reach him. 

“Minho-ssi!”

His mother's voice sounded like a knife scraping over uneven stone. Minho had to fight back a flinch.   
He didn't like the noise.

“I'm here!”, he assured while placing his mother's head back on one of their pillows.   
Her hair had become thin and dulled, just like the spark of her eyes.   
“And I brought some food. It'll help you to regain some of your power!”

Who was he kidding.   
He knew just as well as her, that no amount of food in the world would be able to help her back up. He just didn't want to admit it.   
Because admitting the truth would mean, that he had to accepther death.   
And after that, he would be all alone.

Minho didn't want to be alone.

“No food -.”, His mother's words got drowned in another coughing fit.   
Blood painted her chapped lips and Minho felt bile rise in his throat from the smell.   
His mother had long lost her pleasant scent.   
By now, she smelled like the disease.

He let her swallow another mouthful of water, until she could breathe again.   
Her tired eyes met his, when she made another attempt to speak.

“Minho-ssi, do me a favor, yeah?”

Nodding, Minho waited for her next words. He would do whatever he could for her.

“Can you get me some of the herbs I once showed you? The early blooming ones? I like their smell so much!”

A frown wrinkled Minho's forehead. 

“I shouldn't leave you alone again for today!”, he objected.   
“You seem even weaker than yesterday and if you get a coughing fit, while I am gone, you wont be able to drink. Your throat is already so raw that you are coughing blood!”

His mother pressed her lips together as if she was preventing herself from saying something.   
Minho could hear the words nontheless.   
They both knew it.   
The blood wasn't coming from her bruised throat – but from her lungs.

“Please!”, his mother only pleaded and Minho caved in.

“Fine, I'll search for some!”, he sighed and his mother's weak attempted smile warmed his heart.   
Slowly he got back up and filled the cup in his hands with fresh water, that he placed beside his mother's resting place.

“Try to drink, if you have to cough again!”, he ordered sternly while pulling the bundle with his collected food into the corner of the main room.  
“When I get back, i'm gonna make us some soup!”

His mother only gave a low hum.

“I love you, Minho!”, she whispered with her eyes already closed.   
“I'm gonna rest now!”

“Yes, do that!”, Minho mumbled as he turned towards the exit once more. 

There was a harch pull in his chest that told him to go back and hug her good-bye, tell his mother, that he loved her, too, but he fought against it.   
He would do it once he came back. This was not a farewell!  
_____

When Minho got back, a few of the crumpled herbs safely tugged away in his pocket, the first think that greeted him upon entering the house was the smell of loss. 

It accompanied him into the main room, where the body of his mother was still lying, in the very same spot that Minho had left her. 

But now, no coughing fit was rocking her form, no heavy breathing tortured her lungs.   
She almost looked peaceful, as she lay there, unmoving and with no intention to ever do it again. 

Minho carefully touched her hand, but it was already cold.

One year ago, Soon-ie had stopped coming to their house.   
Minho had waited for her every evening, but eventually he had to accept, that his beloved orange cat wouldn't return.   
Back then he had cried for days, mourning her whenever he found the time between his hunts.

Now, not a single tear escaped his eyes, as he monotonously got up to pack his belongings into the old backpack he had found once.   
It wasn't much anyways, that he needed. His knife, his jacket, the cup...

After a short moment of consideration, Minho grabbed the leftover sheet, that was placed on the floor for him to sleep on and switched it with the woolen blanket, that still covered his mother's body.   
Stuffing the blanket into his backback as well, Minho strapped the bag on and reached in his pocket to pull out the herbs he had collected for his mother.   
Peppermint.

His entire insides felt numb as Minho crouched down once more and pried his mother's cold hands open to get her to hold onto the bundle of leaves.   
He would have liked to bring her one of the flowers, that she had loved so much, but the season was still to cold for anything to properly bloom.   
He had been lucky to be able to find the herbs, even though they were still very small.

For a moment, he stayed in his seated position, his eyes not leaving his mother's pale face.   
Was she really gone?   
He tapped her cheek with his index finger.   
The skin felt weird. Not as soft anymore but harder and more lifeless.

There was nothing left for him to do.

Minho got back up.   
On his way to the exit, his legs felt weak, as if they were hesistant to leave their home behind - to leave his mother behind – but Minho forced them to keep moving. 

He grabbed his bundle on the way out and threw it over his shoulder as well, before he finally stepped outside. 

The sky was still bright, since it was only early in the afternoon.   
It was a colorless gray and Minho felt weirdly connected with the sight. 

He steered his feet into the direction of the inner part of the city, where the school building was located.   
Tomorrow, he would go there again to collect his weekly dose of support that he got for attending the lessons.   
Where he would stay tonight, Minho had no idea. 

His head felt as if it was clasped in smoke and his muscles were weirdly exhausted, even though he hadn't done that much today.   
Nonetheless, he kept walking, past run-down buildings and skyscrapers that he didn't dare to enter in the fear of them collapsing. 

The rational part of his brain told him, that he had to be careful not to run into other people, especially not with the huge bundle he was carrying on his back, but somehow, his body was incapable of listening to reason at the moment. 

Eventually, his inner wolf awoke, growling and raging, and forced him to find shelter in a decent looking smaller building, within which he couldn't detect any fresh scents.

His inner wolf took over, lighting up a small fire, fed with two old books and a bit of branch wood that he found.   
Then, it got Minho to prepare the bird he had cought and roast it. 

Minho himself felt sick.   
He didn't want to eat, wanted to just lie down and sleep for eternity, but his inner wolf didn't accept his wishes and devoured the entire piece of meat, before it finally left Minho to himself again.

Night enveloped the city and Minho felt the loneliness rising around him, ready to swallow him whole, like he had done with his food.   
Out here, he didn't feel like the predator anymore, but rather the hunted.

His limbs were unbelievably heavy and numb from the cold, when Minho wrapped himself in the blanket he had brought along.   
Silence engulfed him, but what Minho had longed for back then in the cramped space of his home, he despised now. 

There were no ragged breaths anymore, that indicated his mother's beating heart, no warmth seeping into his side from her body.   
He was all alone.

The realization hit him hard, knocking the air out of his lungs and he found himself scrambling into a sitting position on the search for oxygen. 

Like a wave, his feelings rolled over him and finally dispelled the numbness and weird indifference he had been caught up in during the day. 

Pain shot through his entire body, squeezing his lungs so harshly that Minho could already see black dots dancing at the corners of his vision.

Finally, he was able to suck in a breath, but with the newfound life back in his body also came the tears.   
Hot and wet they ran down his cheeks, coating his entire face and even his jacket.   
His lips got forced apart by heavy sobs that grew louder with every minute, making his throat become as raw as his mother's had been.

His inner wolf growled at Minho to be quiet, tried to force him to silence, but Minho's pain was stronger and so he finally screamed, as loudly as his lungs alowed him to.  
The sound got thrown back by the walls of the building around him and Minho felt caged all of the sudden. 

So he threw off his blanket and stumbled outside with his vision blurred with tears and a fog he couldn't seem to shake.   
Only once his nose picked up on the fresh breeze of the night, did he scream again. 

He cried and cried, shouted his pain up to the stars, cursed this god-forsaken world for taking the only person from him, he had had.   
But even when his voice gave out, leaving him mute from exhaustion, he received no answer. 

The stars shone on without bother, unmoved by his display of grief.

So Minho returned to his belongings and rolled himself together on the cold floor with his blanket draped over himself.   
It still smelled like death, but he had nothing else.

Eventually, he drifted off into a restless sleep, filled with darkness and solitude.  
_____

The weeks went on and the stinging agony within Minho's chest progressed into a dull throb. 

He still felt the loneliness gnaw at his heart in especially cold nights, but apart from that, he managed to move on. 

Despite his grief over his mother's passing, he couldn't help but admit, that now, things were a little easier for him.   
He didn't have to fill two stomachs but only his own and since he could wander around, searching for a new place to stay at every day, he was able to stay closer to the school and therefore cut his daily walks a little shorter.   
And above everything, the nagging worry he had always carried around with himself during his hunts back then, had disappeared.   
He didn't have to consider, whether he was leading other alphas to their home, didn't have to wonder, whether his mum was fine and would come back safely in the evening. 

But despite his chest feeling lighter, Minho's heart seemed to weigh hundreds of pounds.

Currently, he was staying in an old car-wreck, which he had managed to pry the door open from.   
The old vehicle's windows were surprisingly still intact and therefore captured his scent within the car, hiding it from other citizens.   
Not that Minho worried too much. 

The bigger packs all lived on the other side of the river, so there were only few people that he crossed paths with.   
And even if he did, he always made sure to never carry any food or other obvious supplies around with him. 

No supplies meant no reason for others to attack him, since there was nothing to steal and therefore, it meant safety for Minho.

That way, he lived on relatively comfortable.   
He went hunting at dawn, caught one or two small animals like rats and birds or even rabbits from time to time.   
What he didn't need for his own daily survival, he traded with the farmers at the stream or other hunters. 

That way he had been able to get his hands on another blanket, that didn't remind him of his mother too much.   
A reusable bottle to transport water had been an addition to his belongings as well and served him greatly. Now he didn't have to hit the stream every day anymore but could stay away a little longer.

On the days the school opened, Minho cut his hunting short and instead visited the lessons to earn himself the support-packages, that the government provided for every child, that actively attended school.   
It was the higher-up's way of trying to educate most of the left-over population and create a certain system again.

Today, too, Minho walked into the big building in the middle of the city and showed his card. 

The card was a small piece of metal, that had a number engraved in it.   
It wasn't a work of art and the edges had cut Minho more times already, than he could count, but it was valuable nonetheless. 

If a person gave birth to a child and let the government know about it, the parents received such a 'card' with a number.   
Once the child was six years old, the parents had to bring it to the school-buildings, where one of the higher-ups registered the child, as well as it's looks. 

If the child was reported at birth, but wasn't brought back afterwards for the registration, the number, that the parents had received, got voided.   
The child was then seen as dead and could neither attend the lessons, nor receive help from the government.

Fortunately, Minho's mother had brought him back to get registered, since she hadn't been able to raise him all on her own with his father gone and that was why Minho was now still able to gain support from the growing system.

His teacher signed in his number and gave him a quick once-over to check, whether his written-down description matched with the person he was right now.   
When it did, he nodded and handed Minho's batch back for him to sit down in the run-down classroom.

Minho chose a seat that was further in the back, since the hated having other people in his back. 

School was weird, but it wasn't exactly bad.   
Two days in a row they had normal lessons where they learned about the war, the second genders and rather boring things like reading and writing, as well as simple mathematics. Then, on the third day, they had survival-training, where another teacher showed them tricks of how to survive in their world, such as building traps, preparing meat and recognizing basic herbs.   
Then followed another day with normal lessons, before the school closed for three days.   
Afterwards, the circle started anew.

The classroom slowly got more crowded, when more people trailed into the building, everyone making a short stop at the teacher's desk to sign in before they found their respective seats.   
None of them was hostile, but nonetheless, Minho felt his inner wolf turn restlessly. 

After living on his own for quite some time now, he simply wasn't too used to company.

The lesson started, when there were eleven people in the room, the teacher included.   
A rather normal number. 

At the beginning, Minho had found it incredibly hard to keep up with the lessons.   
Since the government had only a few people to spare as teachers, they weren't able to divide the classes by the children's age and so, once new students came in, they had to catch up by asking questions, that then got answered by either the teacher or one of the older children.   
Only basic things like reading and writing were subjects, where the younger students were given special attention to allow them to keep up.

By now, Minho was almost fifteen years old and was able to read just fine.   
His writing was not really the best, but he didn't see any need in improving it.   
It wasn't a skill he would need later on.

When he had been younger, Minho had planned on aiming to become one of the higher-ups.   
You could earn yourself a place within the government, if you worked for them.   
They were like a big pack and if you wanted in, you had to follow their rules, for example by offering yourself to get trained for one of their jobs. 

That meant either becoming a part of the farmers or the aiders, who were responsible for helping to support the families with registered children or protect the bodies of the government.   
In return, those workers got supplies and protection themselves. 

To get offered such an opportunity however, one had to be good at all the school's subjects, so Minho had tried to work hard to get himself and his mother a better position in the city.   
But with the time moving on, he had dropped that aim, the sicker his mum had gotten.   
By now, he had given it up, replaced it with a different goal.

He wanted out!

Back then, his mother had told him about the people, that had decided to live outside the city.   
No one really knew certain facts, but rumors travelled around nonetheless. 

That out there, deep within the woods, lived packs, that had decided not to rely on the government.   
That hunted their own food and washed themselves in the fresh streams of the forest.   
That slept under the stars and were so strong, that they could easily lift trees.

Again and again, Minho's mother had told him the stories she knew and each time, she added a new detail.   
Of course, fourteen-year-old Minho knew, that not everything was true, but he had started to wonder, how much he could allow himself to believe.   
Because there WERE people out there, that had turned their back on the rest of society. That survived all on their own.

The idea fascinated Minho.   
Enough so, that a wish had began to grow within him.   
The wish to go out there and see it for himself. 

If he didn't like it - so he had told himself over and over again – he could always do a 180 and return to the city.   
It was hard to miss after all, thanks to it's size and the many roads, that still led back to it.

In the front of the classroom, the teacher showed an old map of the world.   
It would have been interesting, but Minho didn't pay attention nonetheless. 

For starters he had seen the map twice already, paired with the explanations of the other continents, and second, he had other things to consider right now.   
Where he would go to hunt today, for example. 

Normally, he relied on the support-packages of the government on schooldays, but now that he was planning his departure from the city, he had decided to start to collect the food he got.   
Meat went bad rather quickly, but the support packages always contained a dry powder and hard pieces of something unidentifiable, that could be turned into soup , with the addition of boiling water.   
It was storable for months and so Minho wanted to collect it for later use, when he was gonna leave.

Maybe he should try the riverside tonight in the evening.   
Some animals came there to drink at night, so it was a good shot.   
He just hoped, no one else would come up with the same idea.  
_____

When Minho left the school building as the last person, three aiders were already waiting outside. 

The aiders were the government's helping hands and could easily be identified by the white sashes around their waists.   
There weren't that many of them in the city, but Minho got to see them every time he collected his support-package from them after the lessons.   
They made sure, that no one stole any supplies or tried to sneak in, as well as off.

Most of them were armed with a simple knife, tugged into the side of their sashes, but one of them even held a gun. 

Minho had never seen a fire-weapon in action, since they were so rare, but he had heard about the destruction they caused.   
He had decided to never try and mess with an aider.   
It wasn't like he needed to anyways.

One of the aiders, a middle-aged woman with short gray hair, handed him the small bundle he always got, but not before checking his batch and getting the teacher's approval.

Minho thanked her with a nod and hastily retreated to a spot a little further away from the other people, before he carefully opened the bundle. 

It held two simple containers, within which the powder was, as well as a small bottle of cleaned water and a little piece of a white material, along with two matches. 

Normally, Minho would find two Stones and light the white bracket to boil the water for his soup now.   
That was, what everyone else was doing.   
What he was supposed to do, since he had to return the bundle, along with the two containers and the bottle the government always used for the support packages.   
If he didn't, he wouldn't get another meal the next day.

But today, Minho changed up his normal routine.

Careful, as to not let either the teacher, not one of the aiders see, he pulled a small bag out of his pocket. It was sewn from a thin fabric and had costed him two rats, but it would do it's job. 

One more time, Minho made sure, that no one was watching him, before he opened both of the containers and poured their contents into the bag before closing them again.   
Then, he shoved the bag back into his pocket, along with the white bricket and the matches.   
It created a weird bulge on the side of his leg, but Minho dared to hope, that, if he pulled down his jacket a bit, it wouldn't be too obvious.

Then he drank the water and packed the support bundle anew with the now empty containers, before sitting down and waiting with his back to the rest of the group.   
His spine was tingling because of the presence of others behind him, but Minho had to at least wait for a few more minutes, before he could get up again and return his bundle.   
Otherwise, the aiders could get suspicious.   
He wasn't sure, if he would get punished for collecting the food, but he wasn't keen on testing it out either.   
There surely was a reason as to why the aiders always watched them eat up.

After what felt like eternity, Minho finally heard another kid get up.   
He waited for a second sound of shuffling, before he allowed himself to rise as well. 

The woman, who had given him the bundle before, nodded, as he handed it back, shortly checked the content, before she told their teacher to cross out his name on their list. Minho had fulfilled all his duties for today.

He was about to head off, when suddenly, shouts got loud from a little further away. When Minho whipped his head around, he was able to see a young boy, around his age, that was desperately trying to fight off a man twice his size.   
Both of them were alphas, how Minho's nose told him, and the fight looked anything but pretty. 

The younger was on his back on the ground, already bleeding from his nose and a scratch on his forehead, and was clearly loosing. Minho couldn't remember having seen him during the lessons.

As another punch hit the younger boy, Minho flinched.   
He turned towards the aiders in the expectation of them breaking up the fight, but not a single one of them even so much as moved.

“Aren't you gonna help?”

He flinched at his own words, not keen on drawing too much attention to himself.   
The male aider on the left – another alpha – shook his head.

“He's not registered!, he stated with a monotone voice while not even bothering to look over at the fighting men.   
“We have no obligation to save either of them.”

Minho felt as if one of the hostine alpha's punches had hit him right in the guts.

“So you're just gonna stand by and watch, even though you could easily seperate them?”, he questioned in disbelief.   
His eyes wandered over to the woman with the short hair. Also an alpha.  
She only shrugged.

“If they are stupid enough to start a fight in a world where every wound could be your death, then it's not on us to stop them!”, she concluded without concern. 

The younger boy gave a weak groan, when the older on top of him landed another punch.

Minho's gaze shortly darted back to the fight, before he turned to the third of the aiders.   
This one was a little younger, a male omega, whose eyes were at least set on the display of violence instead of ignoring it completely, but when Minho gained his attention, he shook his head with apologetic eyes.

“Sorry kid, I got a family to care for!”, he replied gently.   
“I'm not gonna risk my life or health, if I don't have to!”

That, Minho could even understand, but nonetheless, he felt a fire starting to burn within his chest, hot and raging. 

“No wonder the human population almost got wiped out!”

The words were out, before he fully registered them.   
His teacher's eyes widened, but Minho didn't stay behind to wait for his entire reaction.

Anger controlling his actions, he ignored his inner wolfs growls and ran towards the fight. 

The bigger male was about to hit the boy beneath him again, when Minho crashed into him and pulled him off the other.   
For a short moment, the alpha looked confused, as to what had stopped the fight, but when his eyes fell on Minho, hatred contorted his features, that hadn't even been that pleasant in the first place.

“Who are you to dare and attack me!”, he growled and Minho's inner wolf recoiled in submission to the other's strength, but Minho wouldn't let it.

“Who are you to beat someone to death, even though he was way weaker than you?”, he hissed back.   
Some part of him knew, that this was ridiculous.   
He barely reached up to the other alpha's chest and on top of that, had no experience in fighting whatsoever.   
It was not something, that the schools taught, after all, to prevent violence from happening. 

The guy opposite him spat on the floor.   
“I'm gonna show you how to respect me!”, he barked out before moving to attack Minho. 

Minho was fast, but he wasn't fast enough and definitely lacked in experience. 

The punch his him hard, almost knocking him out.   
Dark spots were dancing in front of his eyes, as he crampled to get back to his feet.   
There was a static noise blocking his hearing and his cheek hurt like hell, but at least he could still see.

The alpha attacked him again, and Minho managed to dodge two incoming blows, before a third one threw him to the ground once more, cracking open his lower lip and causing his eyes to water.   
How was he supposed to win this? Why had he meddled with this in the first place? What if he died?

Despite everything, Minho didn't want to die.   
He just wanted to escape. 

Growling, Minho's inner wolf rose again, and this time, he let it, allowing it to take over his body.   
A menacing howl left his bleeding lips, when he jumped up again. The iron taste on his tongue only riled him up more.

When the other alpha came at him again, Minho dove forward as well.   
With all his leftover strength, he wound up and placed a strong kick right between the other guy's legs, just as the alpha's fist collided with his left eye and threw him back again.

The punch sent a wave of stinging pain through his entire head, robbing him of his vision for a moment, but when Minho blinked a few times with his unharmed eye, he was able to see the other alpha curling up on the ground in pain.

He had won!

'For now!', a voice in the back of his head reminded, and finally, Minho felt fear kicking in.   
The alpha in front of him wasn't dead. He was just temporarily disabled, but once he would get back up, Minho was dead meat.

Slowly, he began backing off.   
He heard the aiders and the teacher yell something at him, believed to see them come closer, but he wasn't patient enough to wait any longer for them to possible punish him or for the guy to wake up again. 

Turning on his heel, Minho did the only thing, he had been good at all along.   
He ran!  
_____

The sun was already setting, when Minho finally returned to the old car wreck, where he had left his backpack at. 

Panting, he let himself fall into the front seat and pulled the door close behind him.   
His head was throbbing like crazy and his lip burned. 

To top things off, Minho'S left eye had swollen shut by now and he was only able to see with the right one, rendering him unable to go for a hunt.   
He was hungry and thirst burned in the back of his throat, despite him having drank the cleared water from the support bundle.   
It felt like it had been ages ago.

Whimpering, Minho carefully let his finger's ghost over his demolished cheek, where the first punch had hit him.   
It hurt to even so much as do that, so he drew his hand back and instead reached into his pocket to pull out the bag with the powder.   
Thankfully, it had stayed there during his fight.   
The matches, however, were broken and the white bracket had crumbled.   
Minho let both fall to the floor of the car.   
It was useless to him now. 

The little bag he stuffed into his backpack.   
He wished, he could make himself soup now to at least have something to eat, but he had no water left.

Pulling out his blanket, Minho tried to get a lottle more comfortable in the old car-seat, to get a few hours of sleep, but for some reason, the air seemed too sticky. 

Eventually, after half an eternity of squirming and turning, Minho gave in and pushed open the door.   
They sky above him was sprinkled with millions of stars and Minho heaved a small sigh, as the fresh night-breeze danced around his nose.  
Hopefully, no one would pass by here tonight.

Just as he had finished that thought, his ears suddenly picked up on the faint sound of steps.   
Hastily, Minho pulled the door shut again, but he knew, that his scent had already seeped out.   
He was trapped here, inside the car, and if this person had paid only a small bit of attention, they would surely find him. 

His breathing picking up, Minho turned his head to the side to be able to see through the window with his good eye. 

A shadow appeared, then someone knocked on the glass.   
Minho flinched hard.   
His inner wolf rose once again, ready to fight for survival, but when the door beside him got bulled open, it wasn't the alpha from before. 

The soft scent of flowers, mixed with something fresher, grazed Minho's nose and he felt his inner wolf relax.   
An omega.

Despite that, Minho kept up his growl and bared teeth. Just because this wasn't the guy from before, didn't mean, the stranger wasn't here with bad intentions.

“Finally we found you!”

The omega looked happy, and Minho dared to cock his head to the side a bit. He didn't know this person.   
Why would he be looking for him?

Stepping back a bit, probably to give him more room, the omega raised his hands in a soothing manner.

“Realx!”, he reassured.   
“We are not here to hurt you! I just want to take a look at your wounds. That asshole from before hit you pretty hard.”

Minho's head was spinning with questions.   
What was going on? And why was the omega talking about more than one person?

In that moment, a second shadow appeared behind the omega and Minho recoiled in fear.   
An alpha!   
Was it the one from before? Had they come for him?

But when the other person stepped a little closer, even under the darkness of the night, Minho could recognize, that this alpha was in no way his prior opponent.   
He was around Minho's age, with strong shoulders and an elegant face.   
His hair looked black and hung messily into his forehead, but it couldn't hide his intense eyes, that seemed to stare right past Minho's defensive barriers. 

Despite his obvious second gender, the alpha's scent smelled like warmth and security to Minho and he couldn't help but relax a bit on instinct.

“How do you know me?”, he rasped out, his throat to dry by now to produce proper sounds. 

Immediately, the omega started digginf through a small bag that he was carrying, and pulled out a bottle.  
Holding it out, he encourage Minho to take it with a nod.

Minho frowned but stopped, when the movement hurt his cheek and eye.

“What tells me, this isn't poisoned or anything?”, he asked, ending in a cough.   
Oh god, he wished, he could drink it! He was so unbelievably thirsty!

The omega however, snorted.

“We are two against one right now, with you already looking like you are close to passing out.”, he commented dryly.   
“If we wanted you dead, there would be easier ways than poisoning your water!”

Huffing, Minho took the bottle. Fair point!

The liquid tasted like heaven on his tongue and he only stopped after gulping down the last drop.   
Finally, the stinging pain of his raw throat faded and he immediately left a little livelier. 

Handing back the bottle with a mumbled thanks, he examined the two boys once more.   
They looked similar, even though the omega's hair color seemed to be lighter and his features a little softer.

“Not to sound too ungrateful, since you just gave me water,”, he started off, his eye switching between the two strangers.   
“But again, who are you and how do you know me?”

The alpha, who hadn't said a word as of yet, stepped a little closer. 

“We're from a pack, that resides not too far away from the middle of this city!”, he explained.   
His voice was melodic, but not fully developed yet. Minho guessed him to be only slightly older than Minho himself was.

“We sometimes visit the school here and today, we saw you break up the fight!”

Searching in his memory, Minho tried to find the two faces of the strangers among the ones he had been in the lessons with today, but he couldn't remember having met them before. 

The omega seemed to understand his look of confusion, because he shook his head. 

“We didn't attend the lessons today!”, he explained calmly.   
“We just passed by the school on our way back to our territory!”

There was still a lot, that Minho didn't understand, but he chose to move on.

“Then why did you follow me here?”, he asked.

The alpha shrugged.   
“What you did, was quite admireable!”, he admitted, sparks lighting up his eyes, that looked way warmer all of the sudden.   
“i heard what you said to the aiders and the teacher. About how this was, how humanity was wiped out.”   
The alpha smiled for the first time this evening. 

“It left a big impression on me!”, he added.

Surprised, Minho raised his brows, only to wince right after.   
Stupid him and his stupid facial expressions! Couldn't he keep his muscles still for one fucking day?

The omega again, seemed to catch onto his thoughts.  
“That's the reason, why we followed you!”, he deadpanned, while reaching back into his bag to pull out something, that smelled strongly of herbs.   
Minho scrunched his nose - the only action he could still do without dying of pain.

“What's that?”, he asked to make sure. 

“Medicine!”, the omega gave back.   
“I came here to treat your wounds!”

Now, Minho didn't understand a thing anymore.

“You followed me all the way here to treat me – a complete stranger – with medicine – something extremely valuable and rare - because said stranger got himself injured during a fight that wasn't even his in the first place?”, he asked incredulously.

The alpha chuckled and the omega only nodded.

“Precisely!”

Deflating, Minho let himself fall back into his car-seat.   
A part of him screamed at him not to trust the strangers, but the other part was tired, hungry and in pain, and – on top of everything – entirely done with this worlds bullshit.   
If he was honest, talking to other people really did feel good.   
It dispelled the loneliness, that was already one of his constant companions.

“Fine, whatever, waste your precious medicine one me!”, he huffed.   
“I got nothing left to loose!”

Letting himself fall out of the car and onto the ground, Minho propped himself up against the flat tires of the vehicle.   
He couldn't suppress the flinch, that rocked through his body when the omega crouched down and reached out to push his bangs out of the way, but when the cool ointment finally touched his bruised skin, he let out a relieved sigh.   
Finally, the burning pain lessened a bit.

“I'm Lee Minho, by the way!”, he mumbled out after a moment of silence and the decision, that it wouldn't hurt him to offer his name.   
“What may I call you guys?”

The omega snorted at his choice of words.

“I'm Seungmin!”, he then replied, his voice sounding a bit strained due to his focus still being on Minho's wounds.   
"An omega, how you surely have realized by now and I'm twelve years old!”

“Ah you're younger than me!”, Minho gave back.   
He had learned about the age-system at school, but he wasn't sure, whether these two boys would want to make use of it.   
Seungmin, however, nodded again.

“Minho-hyung then, I guess?”, he questioned and Minho hummed in affirmation.   
It felt weirdly good to have someone calling his name like that. He hadn't heard it in a while now.

Then he turned back to the other boy.

“And what's your name?”, he asked, ignoring the omega's faint hiss, when he moved around too much.

The alpha smiled again, a warm grin that let him appear a little younger, than when he had kept up his stoic expression from before.

“I'm Woojin!”, he introduced himself.   
“I'm Seungmin's older brother by three years and an alpha! Nice to meet you!”

“The calculating really wasn't needed at this time of the night!”, Minho grumbled as he forced his numb brain the figure out Woojin's age.

“So fifteen then?”, he asked and Woojin grinned again. 

“Sixteen!”, he corrected. “I was Born in spring!”

Even though it put a painful strain to the cut on his lower lip, Minho couldn't help but flash the alpha a grin back.   
It felt good. Inside his chest, there was something jumping with joy.  
He nodded back.

“Nice to meet you, too, Woojin-hyung!”


	3. #3: Chan‘s Trauma/Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a fruitless hunt, Chan doesn't want his pack to go to bed hungry, to he sets out to catch something himself, despite his demons coming to haunt him...
> 
> Setting: Clearing around/ apartment-Tower; one week before the fighting practice
> 
> Warning!  
> Mentions of: Angst; PTSD; Panic attacks; blood; verbal abuse!  
> If you are uncomfortable with any of the above, you shouldn't read!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this Little Scene of Chan being angsty and Woojin helping him (somewhat) through it. Or at least, he is there to calm Chan down a Little.

Exhausted, Woojin stepped out of the forest and walked down the path towards the stream.  
Behind him, he heard the steps of Minho, Hyunjin and Changbin. 

They had been out to hunt, but for some reason, today, their prey's legs seemingly had been faster than normally, their stamina better and their hearing sharper. 

All in all, Woojin's hunting party had been anything but successful, and now they were returning with empty hands.  
Empty would also their stomachs stay for tonight, because Woojin was pretty sure, that neither of them would be able to sate their hunger with the few fruits and eatable roots they still had. 

Normally, he would continue their hunt, but if he was honest, he was tired.  
His muscles were burning, his feet aching and he felt incapable of running just ten more meters.  
And judging by the defeated looks of everyone he was with, Woojin knew, they felt the same. They would have to try again tomorrow.

Unfortunately, fruitless hunts weren't that uncommon.  
Sure, during the warmer seasons they almost always managed to catch at least something, but especially during winter, the condition's got much harsher. For example, hunting without the cover of the green around them was a task on it's own.

They dragged their steps across the clearing and up the stairs towards the apartment-tower's main entrance. Only when the heavy door fell shut behind them, did Minho let out a groan.

“Fuck it, I'm hungry!”, he huffed and Woojin felt too exhausted to call his friend out for his cursing. He could always do it again, once they had fresh energy running through their veins.

“Guess we'll have to got to bed hungry this once again!”, Changbin added with a sigh, as he went to follow Hyunjin, who was already ascending the steps up towards the second store.  
“I had almost forgotten how that feels like!”

Minho only grumbled, as he went after them as well, Woojin trailing behind, too.

“Well, I guess all lucky streaks have to end eventually, and we've been hunting well for the past few weeks!”, he commented, although he too, was anything but delighted at the thought of having to endure the hole in his stomach for the time being.

They entered the main hall and Woojin almost felt physical pain, when he saw Jeongin's and Seungmin's disappointed expressions upon the two of them inspecting their empty hands.

Surprisingly, it was Jisung, who was the first one to greet them.  
The young omega got up from his spot beside Felix and Chan, who were sorting through the rest of their stocks to decide, which was still eatable, and made a few steps in their direction. 

“No luck today?”

Despite everything, Woojin saw neither disappointment nor any other negative emotion flash up within Jisung's eyes. They stared at them with the unusual deepness and clarity, that Woojin now had seen a few rare times on the vivacious omega already.

“Well, I am not hiding anything beneath my sweater!”, Minho snapped and Woojin had to withstand the urge to roll his eyes.  
Why had his friend to be so passive-aggressive sometimes? No wonder, Jisung always snapped at Minho's every word! Woojin wasn't even sure, whether he wouldn't have done the same.

This time, however, Jisung simply nodded, not an ounce of annoyance radiating off of him.

“Sorry, stupid question!”, he even admitted, sending first Minho and then everyone else of the group a soft smile, that Woojin had yet to see from the omega.

“Do you guys wanna sit down at the fire with us?”, Jisung now asked, voice still calm.  
“We still have some leftovers! It's not much, but it's something! Then we can try again tomorrow!”

Woojin saw Changbin smile a little and Hyunjin's eyes go soft.  
He himself felt better as well. Soothed somehow, after feeling guilty for being unable to bring food back home.

Even Minho seemingly swallowed down any other sharp words, because the alpha simply nodded and joined the circle around the fireplace. 

Once all of them were seated, Chan and Felix lay out everything they had left.  
A few over-ripe pears, some brown roots, which Woojin knew tasted rather sweet, and a few mushrooms and herbs to chew on. 

Chan tried to avoid touching the few mushrooms at any cost and Woojin couldn't help but smile at the other leader's concentrated looking expression, as he scooted a little further away from the 'rotten bastards', how the blond called them.

As mysterious and unapproachable Chan always seemed, Woojin found his joy in moments like this one, when the other leader stopped being responsible and grown-up for a second, to indulge into his little antics.  
So far, he had found out, that Chan started abusing his hair, once he was stressed or focused on something, and that the boy's dimples only came out with genuine smiles, not with forced ones.

“Okay, how about we cut apart the pears and share them for starters!”, Seungmin suggested.  
“Afterwards we can bother with the rest of what we have. Maybe let mainly those eat, who are gonna go hunting tomorrow, so they'll have enough energy!”

Woojin nodded.  
“Sounds like a plan!”, he agreed before reaching for his hunting knife, that was still stored away within his back-pocket and had almost entirely slid out by now, since he had sat down.  
Pulling it out fully, he pointed it at Chan.

“Chan, catch!”, he caught the other leader's attention, throwing the knife, as soon as Chan looked up with big eyes. 

Another thing, Woojin had began to notice. If one caught Chan by surprise or pulled him out of his thoughts, the blond's expression always looked less on guard than normally.  
As if he hadn't enough time to put his mask back on.

Chan saw the knife flying towards him for sure.  
It was still clasped in the makeshift-sheath they had made from old clothing, so it wasn't dangerous. Woojin had made sure of that.

But when Chan caught the knife, he suddenly let it go with such haste, as if it had cut him, the weapon clattering to the ground with a dulled thud thanks to the fabric wrapped around it.

Jeongin let out a giggle.  
“You suck at catching, Chan-hyung!”, he grinned, but Woojin didn't feel like laughing along. 

Because Chan didn't look like he had simply missed the knife. Or as if he hadn't been able to hold onto it properly.  
No, Chan wasn't smiling sheepishly, like he normally would. 

He was still staring at the fallen knife, black eyes widened and expression not as blank as normally.  
To Woojin, he almost looked...scared.

He wanted to call out to the blond, ask him if everything was okay, when suddenly, Jisung appeared beside his leader and picked up the weapon.

“Alright, now, how do you guys want me to cut them?”, the omega asked, tone light.  
But Woojin caught the way, the boy tapped his leader's shoulder, so softly it almost looked questioning.

Chan blinked a few times, then looked over to Jisung, who met his leader's gaze. Only when Chan gave a subtle nod, did Jisung let his hand slip off the blond's shoulder and turned his attention back to the pears.

A chorus of voices got loud with differing opinions of how to split the fruits, but Woojin's attention was elsewhere. 

Chan was now staring into the fire, eyebrows scooting down further and further, until the blond was frowning hard.  
Then, without warning, Chan stood up. 

No one bestowed the blond with more than a glance, as he crossed the room towards the exit.  
Only on Changbin's face, Woojin was able to see a slightly concerned look, but despite that, no one made any attempt of following the blond leader.

Deciding to stay in his spot as well for now, Woojin focused back on the conversation going on around him.  
Maybe Chan just wanted a little bit of fresh air. After all, he still couldn't help with the hunts, because Seungmin had forbid him to do so yet in favor of his injury.

“Woojin-hyung would you please prevent them from chopping off their fingers!”

Seungmin's exasperated voice demanded Woojin's attention and he turned back just in time to watch, how Jisung began aiming the knife in his hands at one of the pears Felix was holding up, apparently very set on trying to cut the fruit mid air.

Sighing, Woojin scrambled to his feet instead of giving in to his urge to face-palm and went to save Felix's finger's from getting any shorter than they already were.  
__________

Chan could almost feel Woojin's eyes burning holes into his back, as he walked towards the exit. 

He wasn't stupid! He had seen the other leader's gaze, had noticed his attention being on him all the time.  
It hadn't exactly helped with his guilt rising within him like a dark cloud, paralyzing his thoughts and reminding him, that he could under no circumstances allow his pack to starve again.  
Not while the forest was still filled with animals. Not while winter hadn't even arrived yet! Not while he sat around and did nothing!

When he finally felt Woojin's attention shifting away from him, Chan, quickly went over to the spot, where Changbin had left his backpack on the ground.  
Right now, it was mostly empty, but that made it all the easier for Chan to find what he was looking for. 

His thundering heart sped up even more, when his fingers closed around the smooth handle of their old hunting knife.  
It was so sickeningly familiar to Chan, that he had to suppress a gasp.  
Back then it had been his. Before he had given it to Changbin, because he had been unable to use it anymore.

Slowly Chan pulled the weapon out of the bag.  
Just like Woojin's it was clasped in an old cloth to prevent the person holding it from cutting themselves accidentally, but in order to hurt Chan, it didn't have to come in contact with his skin!  
Nonetheless, his trembling fingers held onto the weapon tightly, Chan not allowing them to let go.

Throwing one last look over his shoulder to make sure, that no one was watching him, Chan hid the weapon under his sweater and rose to his feet again.

His blood was boiling in his veins and his breath went fast, when he scrambled down the staircase and pushed the door open to get outside, until finally, a fresh breeze caressed his face.  
The cold night air dried the sweat, that had formed on his forehead, but it wasn't able to cool down the spot, where the knife seemingly burned itself into Chan's stomach, right where his scar was located.

Almost frantic, Chan ripped out the knife and let it drop onto the soft grass of the moonlit clearing. It looked so innocent, small and harmless with it's blade still hidden by it's cover.

Scoffing out loud, Chan tried to steady his heartbeat. 

This was nothing! He could do this!  
His friends needed to eat, after all, and he was their leader! Responsible for their well-being!  
He had to do this!

It took him a few more deep breaths, but eventually, Chan managed to persuade his body to bow down and pick up the weapon again.  
It was lighter, than he remembered.  
Probably, because the last time he had held a knife, it hadn't been this one.

Determined, Chan tried to suppress the sick feeling growing in his stomach and made his way towards the east side of the clearing, away from the stream. 

During his strolls with Felix, the freckled alpha had told him about a few rabbit holes, that were located there and Chan hoped to catch one of the animals.  
Just one! One kill! Then he could go back!

This wasn't much different from their normal hunts. Just that this time, it wouldn't be Changbin, who would make the final strike, but him.

Chan kept talking to himself in his head, tried to block out the memories that wanted to flood his mind whenever he accidentally looked down at the knife in his hand.  
Meanwhile, he carefully snuck closer towards the edge of the forest. 

Rabbits weren't nocturnal, but maybe that would mean, they were in their holes.  
Maybe he could chase them out. He was even prepared to dig in order to accomplish his goal.

Focusing insistently on his task, Chan didn't allow any other thoughts to rise and went on the hunt.  
_____

Almost an hour later, Chan was finally able to throw himself onto one of the small creatures. 

He had blocked the other entrances of the rabbit holes and set up a trap in front of the last one, before he had chased the rabbit out by digging.  
The poor animal ran right into his grasps and experience, combined with routine let Chan jump forward and catch the rabbit before it could escape. 

His prey thrashed in his grip, fighting for it's life, but Chan held on, his free hand raising his now freed knife over his head to make the final strike. 

A sudden memory rocked through his body and made Chan flinch so hard, that he let go of the weapon, causing it to fall to the ground for the second time this night.

_Chan's hands, baked in crimson, dead eyes staring up at him.  
The stench of blood covering any other smell._

A loud crack of the rabbit's neck ended the animals life, but it didn't rip off the string of memories, Chan found himself caught up in. He fell forward onto his hands. 

_They were red. Both of them so red._  
He believed to feel the sticky fluid between his fingers again.

Disgust and horror squirmed around within his guts and Chan's entire body writhed under the wave of his gag.  
There was nothing left in his stomach that Chan could have thrown up, but nonetheless retch after retch forced him to convulse again and again, until Chan physically couldn't anymore.

His throat felt raw and used and his muscles were trembling from exhaustion.  
The air had gotten considerably colder, but Chan couldn't help but fall to the ground and stay there for a while, too tired to move.  
Eventually, his feet and hands went numb.

Chan wanted to close his eyes, just sleep, but whenever he tried, his eyelids would shoot back open.  
Nothing new to him, but right now, Chan cursed his insomnia.

Hot tears burned in his eyes, but he forced them back. 

He really was a poor leader!  
What was he doing? He had to get up! Bring back his catch before some nightly predator came and stole it!

In his ears, Chan heard their words echo again and again.  
The voices weren't the same anymore, just a unidentifiable chorus of sentences, that he was sure, he would carry around with himself for the rest of his life.

_'You are a poor excuse of a person!'  
'Disgusting! A mistake!'  
'You will never be a real leader!'_

Desperate to escape them, Chan pressed his hands onto his ears.  
He wanted to scream at them to back off, to leave him alone, but he was scared, that someone from the other pack could hear him. 

He had to look strong in front of them! He needed to keep his role as the leader upright! His pack-mates were counting on him!

Eventually, the voices died down a little, leaving Chan even more drained than before, as if he had physically fought them, instead of mentally. 

Groaning, he forced himself onto his knees.  
The dead rabbit was still lying beside him.  
It surely was cold by now, but Chan knew, that would change, once they would roast the meat over the fire.

Fighting against the ache in his muscles, he rose to his feet and picked up the rabbit's body.  
He was about to return to the apartment-tower, when his gaze landed on the discarded knife. 

The blade was still bloody.

It took Chan a moment to realize, that his mind was playing tricks on him once more.  
But even though he knew, that the knife couldn't be stained, since he hadn't used it for the kill, he couldn't rip his gaze away from the weapon. 

He had to pick it up, bring it back with him. It was Changbin's now, after all!

Everything in Chan wanted to recoil in disgust and repulsion.  
He didn't want to touch the knife ever again.  
Or any knife!

Multiple minutes he just stood there - motionlessly - with the dead rabbit in his hand, while he contemplated of how to go about this. 

Three times, Chan tried to bow down and pick up the weapon, but when his hand just wouldn't reach out for it, no matter how hard he worked to persuade himself to do it, he gave up.

Carefully, he lowered the rabbit back to the ground and pulled his sweater off his body.  
It was dirty anyways. And he was already freezing, too.

Quickly he threw the cloth on the knife, until the weapon was fully covered.  
Only then was he finally able to hold onto it again. 

Grabbing his prey once more as well, Chan schooled his expression and began walking back towards the apartment-tower slowly. 

Like a black giant it reached into the darkness of the night, but other than with the small blade within the lump of his sweater, Chan felt no fear rise within his chest at the sight.  
It rather meant security.  
No blood. No death. Just warmth.

He was about to push open the main door, when suddenly, it caved on it's own, revealing a big figure.

“Chan?”

Woojin's voice was dripping with concern and Chan had to bite his lip.  
He was sure, otherwise, something would have slipped out, that he didn't want the other to hear.  
Whether that would have been a growl or a whimper, he wasn't too sure.

Woojin's face got lighted up by the burning branch he was holding up like a torch and the other leader quickly gave Chan a once-over.

“I caught us dinner!”, Chan replied while holding up the dead animal, hoping his tone was as light as he had intended for it to be.  
To him it sounded rather emotionless. 

Frowning, Woojin took the rabbit from Chan.

“What about your wound, Chan!”, he asked. 

Chan hadn't even thought about his injury up until now. But no strain was pulling at his stomach, so he deemed it okay.  
At least he hoped so.

“It's fine!”, he simply waved it off.  
Still, Woojin's frown didn't disappear.

No offense Chan, but you don't look 'fine'!”, the older alpha replied seriously.  
“You look like you just went through hell and back! What happened?”

A part of Chan wanted to curl up into a ball and cry his eyes out. A part of him wanted to lean against Woojin and drop this stupid act.  
But he knew, he couldn't do that. 

It would be unfair! Unfair towards his friends, unfair towards Woojin.  
Because once the other leader would find out about Chan, he would be disgusted with himself, if Chan would ever allow him to get any closer.  
Woojin would hate himself for having liked Chan. 

By then, he would be repelled by Chan, and the blond would make this the least painful for the both of them.  
Maybe that was cowardly, but he was scared of hurting.  
He would keep his distance! 

That way, when Woojin would push him away later, it wouldn't sent him flying, but only stumbling a little.  
It was the safest option!

But Woojin's intense eyes demanded some sort of explanation.  
Chan heaved a sigh.

“It's nothing!”, he assured calmly.  
Out of habit, he wanted to card a hand through his hair, but stopped himself, when in the flickering light of Woojin's torch he realized, that his hands were covered in something dark.

_Blood!_

A hoarse whimper left his lips as he stared at his hands.  
They were both dirty! 

_Dirty, dirty, dirty! Stained with blood! Like back then!_

He staggered backwards, lost his footing on the ground, when suddenly there was no stone beneath his shoes anymore.  
Chan felt himself falling.

“..an! Chan!”

Woojin's voice forced Chan back to reality and he looked up, his eyes meeting Woojin's shocked ones.  
The torch was lying on the ground beside them, still burning.  
Woojin's hands were wrapped around Chan's wrists.

His dirty wrists.

“Chan, look at me!”

Chan drew in a shaky breath before he raised his gaze back to Woojin's face. The other looked disturbed.

“It's okay, I'm fine now, really!”, he rasped out, having to clear his throat once to be able to produce a proper sound. 

Woojin shook his head, his big hands still holding onto Chan's.  
The latter tried to block out the warmth that crept in from the other leader's grip.

“You just panicked for no apparent reason and you want me to believe, you are fine?”, Woojin questioned dryly.  
“Uh uh, not gonna happen, Chan! Please stop this and tell me what is going on!”

The part of Chan, that wanted to give in, grew dangerously strong and he didn't know anymore, how to fight it any longer.  
So he used his very last weapon. 

Anger!

Hot and powerful it cursed through his body and dispelled some of the exhaustion that had weighed him down. 

He was a leader! And he would prove it to anyone, who thought differently!

Ripping his wrists out of Woojin's grasp, Chan steeled his expression and looked Woojin dead in the eye.

“I said, I was fine!”, he snarled.  
He would have liked to sound a little more level-headed, but right now, he couldn't be too picky with his emotion's that weren't him being close to breaking down.  
“It's true, I lost myself in a flashback for a second, but it's over now!”

There was pain visible in Woojin's gaze and Chan had to force himself to keep up the eye-contact.  
Nonetheless he didn't waver. 

“I understand!”, Woojin nodded.  
“If you don't want to talk about it, then that is your decision! But please let me accompany you to the stream for now! You are in dire need of a bath!”

When Chan looked down his body once more, he realized, that Woojin was right. 

Not only his hands were dirty but also his pants held darker patches.  
And on this second glance, he also noticed, that it wasn't dried blood that was baking his fingers, but simple mud.

Humming in agreement, he let his sweater drop to the floor.  
The clattering noise it made, let him grimace. 

So much to Woojin not finding out about the knife!

The other leader raised one eyebrow at Chan, but luckily didn't ask.  
Instead he picked up the burning branch once more, that had gotten a little shorter by now, and ushered for Chan to go ahead.  
__________

“You're not gonna cave in, are you?”

Woojin should know better than to keep asking after Chan had very clearly shown him, that he was unwilling to talk about this, but Woojin couldn't just stay silent and leave it at that.  
Not after seeing the haunted look in Chan's dark eyes. Not after witnessing the fear on his face and the shift in his usually so calming scent.

Chan was currently busy with scrubbing his hands and nails clean – the latter because Woojin had assured the blond, that Seungmin would throw a fit, if Chan came back wit dirty nails – and looked up upon Woojin's question. 

Slight annoyance was visible on his expression, along with something that Woojin couldn't quite place.  
If he had been bold, he would have called it a mix of insecurity and longing.

“There is nothing to cave in over!”, Chan gave back insistently.  
“I told you already, I'm fine now!”

This time, Woojin wasn't entirely able to force his frustration back down.

“Oh come on!”, he groaned, pushing himself up from the stone he had been sitting on while waiting for Chan.  
Normally, he wouldn't push it this far, but Chan's distress somehow had set him on edge as well. 

“We both know, I'm not gonna buy that so please, cut the crap for now!”

Surprise spread itself over Chan's face, followed by something darker, and Woojin already feared, he had crossed a line.  
But right, when he thought, Chan would blow up and attack him, the blond's shoulders suddenly slumped in defeat. 

Chuckling slightly, he rose from his crouched position at the shore and walked towards Woojin with slow strides.

“You're right, not everything is fine!”, Chan agreed in a calm, yet bitter voice. He stopped right in front of Woojin, and suddenly the alpha was all the more aware of the blond's proximity and his strong scent, that caressed his nose with the other's every movement. 

There were a few water droplets on Chan's shoulders and collar bones, that blinked under the silver rays of the moon and the leader's blond curls appeared almost white, just like his marble-like skin.  
As if someone or something had drained him of all his color. 

Woojin gulped, but it wasn't from fear. There was something else twisting in his chest.

“There are a lot of things, that I can't tell you yet!”, Chan continued, his black eyes boring themselves into Woojin's with a certain kind of pain caught up in them.  
The alpha wasn't sure, how to figure out, what had caused it.

“Does that mean, I will find out eventually?”, Woojin dared to ask, cocking his head to the side a bit.

Chan gave a breathy laugh, that let his chest quiver.  
It sounded far from anything bordering on amusement.

“Yes, you probably will!”, the blond assured, a smile pulling his lips apart.  
No dimple appeared in his cheek and Woojin caught himself longing for it.

“Will you let me help you then?”, he questioned and Chan's smile died.

“You won't want to anymore then, trust me!”, the blond mumbled and pulled away from Woojin to pick up his discarded shirt from the ground to dunk it into the water of the stream as well. 

With his back to Woojin, the alpha could watch the muscles on Chan's shoulder blades move, as the blond scrubbed his clothing clean.  
Despite their width, the other leader looked fragile to Woojin.  
As if his spine had to carry something way heavier, than just his own bodies' weight.

Then, Chan's words caught up to him and he frowned. 

“Why would I not want to anymore?”

Chan heaved a deep sigh, as he wrung out his shirt and turned back towards Woojin with a defeated expression on his tired face. 

“You just won't!”, the blond repeated, before his gaze suddenly softened.  
It caught Woojin off guard and let his heart skip a beat for a second.

“Please just keep this to yourself, yeah?”, Chan pleaded, eyes serious.  
“I don't want anyone to worry unnecessarily!”

Huffing, Woojin crossed his arms over his chest.

“Maybe they have good reason to worry?”, he grumbled.  
Chan's aloofness still somewhat riled him up. He wasn't even sure, why exactly.

But apparently, the blond really was doing a little better than before, because instead of snapping at him, Chan simply rolled his eyes, a small smile bringing out his dimples this time.

“Would you drop it?”, he asked pointedly but with no real bite to his tone.  
“My wound is fine, I am fine, everything is fine! I just need some sleep and a little bit of meat in my stomach!”

Something else rose to the forefront of Woojin's mind.

“Did we leave the rabbit at the doorstep?”, he asked in disbelief of their own carelessness. 

Chan looked shocked for a second, before the blond broke into a faint laugh.

“We sure make great role models for our pack-mates!”, he grinned, now seeming more light-hearted than before.

Grabbing the torch he had pushed into the ground to not having to hold onto it all the time, Woojin pointed back towards the apartment-tower.

“Let's hurry back!”, he suggested with a grin.  
“Hopefully, your great catch is still there! How did you manage to get a rabbit anyways? Those beasts are fast as hell!”

Following him, Chan gave another chuckle.

“I have my ways!”, he replied cheekily, and Woojin couldn't help the joy jumping in his chest over the fact, that Chan was smiling again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just finished this, im hella tired and i feel like it's crap, but here ya go! Enjoy the crap!:)  
> just kidding, but i'm probably gonna edit this a second time later...  
> i just felt in dire Need of a Little woochan!


	4. #4: Seungmin's (&Woojin's) past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning!  
> Mentions of violence/physical+verbal abuse; graphic Display of violence/injuries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to upload this chapter for the past three days now and i sincerely hope, my Computer and my wifi won't hate me as much tomorrow for the real update, as they did the past few days...-.-
> 
> Anyways, i hope you guys enjoy it!

Lost in thoughts, Seungmin stared at the ceiling.

It was covered in fissures and looked not very stable if he was honest.

How had this part of the building not crumbled yet?

He was close to sure, that his parents had given him this room in the hopes of somehow getting rid of him that way through a badly timed collapse of the the building's right wing, where this room was located.

Maybe that was, why they had taken Woojin away before.  
So his brother would be save, while Seungmin was still lying here, counting down the seconds to his death.

Huffing, Seungmin rolled onto his stomach and exhaled through his nose.  
The action let a cloud of dust rise around him and he scrambled into a sitting position with a sneeze.

He was bored out of his wits.

A little while ago, one of the older alphas had come to his and Woojin's room and demanded for his brother to follow him. Their dad apparently wanted to see him.

Seungmin was ignored.  
Like always.

Ever since he had presented as an omega one year ago, his parents had stopped paying attention to him.  
Not that they had done it much before, but now, they didn't even bother to spare him one single glance.  
It was as if he was invisible.

Only Woojin still got seen and Seungmin couldn't help but be envious of his brother for that.

He didn't understand, why Woojin was so different from him.  
They were both the same height despite Woojin being older, and Seungmin could proudly say, that he was almost as quick a learner as his older brother was.

So what was it, that made his parent pay attention to Woojin but not to him?  
Was it his second gender?

Frowning, Seungmin rubbed his still tingling nose.

It was true, that their pack consisted of only alphas.  
His mother was an alpha female, his father an alpha male. All their members were alphas and even Yuqi, the fragile looking female that often looked after Woojin and him, was an alpha, despite her frail outer appearance.

Woojin was an alpha, too.

Was that his secret? How he got his parents to look at him?  
But how was Seungmin supposed to change his second gender?

He was in the middle of coming up with a solution by asking Yuqi or his teacher for help, when suddenly, outside the door to his room, haste steps got loud.  
They weren't as heavy as the ones of the older members of their pack, so Seungmin knew instantly, that it was his brother.

Quickly he pushed himself up and went to open the door, when suddenly it opened on it's own. Inside tumbled Woojin with staggering steps.

Seungmin could barely suppress a startled scream.  
His brother looked horrible.

His normally intense gaze was hazy and disoriented, jumping from one thing to another, as if he couldn't really focus on anything.  
There was blood dripping from a wound on his forehead and his right hand was securely holding his other arm to his chest, as if it was painful to carry it normally.

“Hyung, what happened!”

Woojin's eyes flickered over him for a second, before his legs suddenly gave in.

Seungmin jumped forward, but his brother's weight was too much for him to lift, so the both of them tumbled to the floor.  
Woojin let out a weak groan.

“I can't remember!”, he mumbled and it sounded, as if his lips were paralized and not able to move properly to form the words.

“What do you mean, you can't remember?”

Seungmin felt panic rising within him.

His brother was badly injured!

If there was something, that he had learned from the very start, it was that wounds were something to be avoided at all costs.  
Injuries meant weakness and weakness meant death!  
That was, what his mother always said.

“We have to treat your wounds somehow!”

Carefully, Seungmin pulled his brother's limp body onto the sheets they used as bedding.  
The older's eyes were closed by now. He looked a little calmer, but Seungmin wasn't really sure, whether that was a good sign.

Maybe he was dying?

Driven by fear coiling up in the pit of his stomach, Seungmin tapped his brother's cheek harshly.

“Hyung, you can't sleep!”, he demanded urgently.

To his relief, Woojin actually blinked a few times. Then suddenly, his eyes widened.

“Feel sick...!”, was all he rasped out, before he rolled to the side and threw up onto the bare floor.

Disgust let bile rise in Seungmin's throat as well, but he forced himself to swallow it back down.

Soothingly he rubbed his gagging brother's back, while the fear in his stomach grew and grew, until it was a dark black ball, that was threatening to devour him.

What could he do?  
He had to make the bleeding on Woojin's forehead stop! Bleeding was dangerous, right?  
And why was his brother getting so sick?  
Had he eaten something bad?  
Was he ill?

Tears began dwelling in Seungmin's eyes and blurred his vision on his still heaving brother.

Was no one going to come? Would nobody help them?

Seungmin wanted to help his brother, he really did, but he had no idea, how!  
He was only seven! He had only just begun going to school last year and they had never taught him anything about situations like this one!

Crying, Seungmin looked around the room, as if on the search for anyone, who could help him, but of course, there was no one there.  
They were all alone!

He was all alone!

And his brother was dying, while he had to watch helplessly!

In that moment, the door suddenly opened a second time.  
Seungmin couldn't see the person properly due to his tears, but his nose picked up on a familiar scent.

“Yuqi-noona!”, he cried out, only to get his shout muffled by her hand pressing down on his mouth.

“Quiet! If anyone finds out, i'm helping you, we're all in trouble!”

When he nodded, Yuqi pulled her palm back.

“And stop crying, I could smell your distressed scent all the way from outside!”, she ordered sternly.  
“Crying won't help anyone! It only renders you vulnerable and weak!”

Shame burned hot in Seungmin's ears and he hastily wiped his eyes and cheeks dry.

“Woojinnie-hyung is dying!”, he gave back instead of an apology.

The strong don't apologize, was what his father had said once.  
They stood up for what they did!

Seungmin hated, how his voice wobbled, but to his relief, Yuqi didn't scold him again. She only shook her head, as she turned towards Woojin, who had settled back onto the sheets, his breath going fast and heavy.

“He's not dying!”, she objected, as her hand reached out to check the boy's temperature.  
“He just hit his head pretty badly on the floor, after your father fought him. He probably has a concussion. Nothing life-threatening but not exactly pleasant either.”

Carefully, she pulled something out of her pocket and immediately, the sour smell of bile got covered a little by the intense odor of plants.

Furrowing his browns, Seungmin stared at her.

“Father fought with him?”, he asked incredulously.

Woojin was only ten!  
Why would his father force him to fight against him. His brother didn't stand a chance!

Yuqi looked uncomfortable, as she started ripping the plants apart, which only strengthened their smell.

“Well, you know your father!”, she replied with her voice lowered a little as if she was scared, that someone could listen in on their conversation.  
“He hates the weak! So I guess, he will try to make a good fighter out of Woojin!”

“By beating him up?”

Seungmin felt anger and disbelief playing catch in his chest.  
Why would their father do that?

“I guess, he hoped, that Woojin would defend himself!”, Yuqi gave back shortly, before she pulled out a bottle and let the little pieces of leave drop into the water within.

Again, Seungmin frowned.

“He didn't?”, he questioned.

Yuqi's expression turned into a pained grimace.

“He tried!”, she answered. Then, she gestured to Woojin, who was still lying between them motionlessly. Seungmin hoped to the heavens, that Yuqi was right about him not dying.

“Hold up his head a bit so I can let him drink this!”, Yuqi ordered, while she closed the lid of the bottle again to shake it a few times.

Eager to be able to do at least something, Seungmin scooted up to his brother and carefully reached under the boy's head.

It was heavier than he had imagined and took quite a lot of strength for him to heave it up, but he grit his teeth together and kept pushing, all the while trying to be careful.  
Nonetheless, Woojin gave another low groan, that sounded especially pained and not at all healthy.

Shocked, Seungmin looked back at Yuqi, who didn't at all seem bothered by his brother's display of discomfort.

“He's in pain!”

Yuqi snorted though it didn't sound particularly amused but rather bitter.

“Well, what did you expect, princess?”, she asked dryly, as she leaned forward and began to pour some of the herb-water-mix into Woojin's gaping mouth.  
“A concussion is no walk in the park after all! He will have to take it easy for a few days at least before his head is back to being resilient!”

Seungmin's own head was about to burst from all the information he had to process.

“Don't call me that!”, he only retorted, since he didn't want to say nothing, but wasn't sure how to reply to anything else being said.  
He felt incredibly stupid.  
And so very helpless.

The tight knot within his guts still hadn't vanished and Suengmin felt a strong urge to ignore Yuqi's order and start crying again.  
But then, his gaze fell on the pained expression of his brother, who by now, had started to swallow some of the liquid being served to him, and he couldn't help but get angry.  
  
Angry at himself.  
He had no right to cry!  
Woojin did! Woojin was the one with the bleeding wound and the headache!  
Seungmin should try and help his brother somehow instead of crying, right!

“Okay, you can lie him back down!”, Yuqi commanded in that moment, closing up the water bottle again.  
“He will probably sleep now. I don't think, he will throw up one more time!”

Carefully placing his brother's head back on the sheets, Seungmin scrambled away to grab an old rag, that lay around in the corner of the room.

They had used it to clean the floor enough for them to place their bedding on it, but now, he could make use of it one more time.

Picking up the dirty cloth, Seungmin returned to Woojin's side and threw it onto the puddle of bile, that luckily still hadn't spread out enough to reach their sheets.

Immediately, the stench subsided a little, and Seungmin was able to breathe.  
But now, that that was taken care of, he wasn't sure of what to do next.  
Slightly clueless, he turned back towards Yuqi, who was just standing back up after placing one of their blankets over Woojin.

“What else can I do?”, he asked.

He had to be able to help his brother somehow else, right?  
He couldn't just sit here and wait for him to get better!

“Sorry princess, nothing left to do now! Your brother needs to rest, so try not to disturb him!”

Yuqi dusted off her grayish pants with one hand.

“But what am I supposed to do in the maintime?”

Seungmin felt almost desperate.  
He didn't want to be alone with Woojin again! Not while his older brother looked so incredibly small and vulnerable.  
Not while Woojin was in a state, that Seungmin didn't know how to handle!

Shrugging, Yuqi placed the waterbottle beside Woojin's sleeping form.

“I don't know, Seungmin!”, she sighed, using Seungmin's full name for the first time ever since she had entered the room.  
“I don't think there is much for you to do right now! I advice you not to leave the room on your own and without your brother, though!”

“Why not?”

Seungmin didn't understand.  
Woojin also always left the room on his own. Why should it be any different for him?

When Yuqi didn't immediately answer, Seungmin huffed.

“It's because I'm an omega, isn't it?”, he mumbled.  
“That's because everyone is treating me like I don't exist and why I always have to be careful with where I go!”

Letting out another sigh, Yuqi wordlessly stared at Seungmin.  
Her gaze was different from normally. A little softer and almost sad.  
It would take another three years for Seungmin to understand, that it was pity, what he had seen in her eyes.

“I'm sorry, but I don't think, there is anything else I can do for you!”, Yuqi eventually replied while looking away.

When she turned back towards the door, ready to leave, Seungmin felt panic wash back through his veins.

“Wait!”

He didn't want to be alone!  
He didn't want to sit beside Woojin without being able to do anything but watching his brother suffer.

Yuqi turned back towards him with a questioning expression on her delicate features.  
Just to keep her attention, Seungmin came up with the very first question, that entered his mind.

“How did you know, how to help hyung?”

Not bad! He really wanted to know that one! Maybe he could use it in the future!

“I studied medical topics and the usage of herbs for a certain time!”, Yuqi answered earnestly.  
“It's quite useful in a world without anyone or anything to help you, once you get injured!”

Seungmin felt his eyes grow wide.  
This was something, he could learn?

“So that's why you always know, how to help someone, if they hit their head?”, he probed.  
“Or get a scratch? Or bleed, like Hyung?”

This time, Yuqi even chuckled.  
Seungmin liked the alpha's chuckle much better than his mother's.

Both his parent's laugh always sounded somewhat threatening.  
Yuqi's was way warmer.  
But if Seungmin was honest, the woman had always been warmer than this whole pack he had grown up in.

Only Woojin was even warmer.

“Yes, most of the time, I know how to help someone, when they hurt themselves!”, Yuqi confirmed.  
  
Suddenly, her dark eyes looked somewhat deeper and yet more lively.  
“Would you like to learn it as well?”

Contemplating, Seungmin returned her stare.

He could learn this!  
He could learn how to help his brother!  
So when their father would hurt him again, Seungmin wouldn't feel so helpless anymore.  
Then he would know what to do. And could help his brother, so he wouldn't hurt anymore!

“Yes!”

His voice didn't waver in the slightest, as he nodded, eyes still locked with Yuqi's.

“Please teach me how to help Woojinnie-hyung in the future!”

Yuqi nodded, a faint smile dancing around her lips.

“Alright, princess!”, she agreed.  
“I'll teach you!”

“Don't call me that!”

Seungmin tried to sound stern, but he felt too excited.  
So he only shuffled to his feet and went to hold his hand out to Yuqi.

“Pinkie-promise?”

Again, the corners of Yuqi's mouth twitched.  
Nonetheless, she complied, locking their fingers for a short second.

“Pinkie-promise!”, she answered.  
Seungmin grinned up to her.

“Great then you can teach me now!”, he decided.  
“Hyung has to rest anyways!”

__________

A few weeks later, Seungmin was sitting outside the big building, where his pack lived at.

He had snuck outside through the backdoor to be able to soak in the warmth of the sunlight for a little, while Woojin was ordered to their parents once again.  
But by now, Seungmin didn't feel as bitter about it anymore.  
He had something else to do and when he was done, his parents would surely agree, that he wasn't as weak as they had thought.

Crossing his legs, Seungmin shifted a bit in his spot on the floor, propped up against the facade of the huge building.

Grass was tickling his legs, where it had managed to crack open the concrete over the years and not far away, a few dandelions were blooming in a beautiful yellow.

It was one of the first plants, Yuqi had told him about.  
Although the fluid within their stem was a little poisonous, their leaves and flower-head could be used for several things, if treated correctly.

As Seungmin went through his memory, repeating all the things he had learned until now over and over again to brand them into his mind, the atmosphere slowly started to change.

Lost in thought, Seungmin only noticed it, when a strong scent hit his nose.

Alarmed, he stopped his mumbling and looked up.

Across from him from behind the corner of another building, a face had emerged.  
Its' eyes were staring right at Seungmin without wavering for even a second, and Seungmin felt his own brows furrow in confusion.

Who was that?

It surely wasn't a member of his pack.  
Woojin and him were the only children there and the face definitely belonged to someone not much older than him.

Carefully, Seungmin got up.

He expected the boy to run away at his first movement, but instead, the young alpha actually left his hiding place to stand opposite Seungmin in a few meter's distance.  
He was a little shorter, if Seungmin was correct and his cheeks were still round from his definitely young age.  
Ripped pants and an old hoodie, which was way too big on him, made his clothes and his black hair hung into sharp dark eyes.

If he hadn't been just as young as Seungmin, the omega would have been intimidated.  
But he was used to alphas. He was used to strong scents and piercing glares.

This frail boy was not something, that was able to scare him.

“Who are you?”, Seungmin called out, deciding to make the first step after minutes of staring.

The boy cocked his head to the side a bit.

“Jeongin!”, he eventually replied curtly.  
“And you?”

“I'm Seungmin!”, Seungmin gave back as well.  
“What are you doing here, Jeongin?”

Jeongin buried his hands in the pocket of his overly large black hoodie.

“My mum's busy!”, he explained with a short look over his shoulder.  
“I only bother her, so she told me to go play, but I have no one to play with!”

Frowning, Seungmin crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Not my problem!”, he huffed.  
“I have to study, so if you could go elsewhere to stare at people? My noona said, it's rude!”

That was a lie.  
Seungmin had read in one of his stories, that staring apparently had been rude before the war, but he had no idea, why.  
It just was a nice thing to say right now, when he wanted to get rid of the young alpha.

The other boy's eyes widened a little.

“What are you studying?”, he asked eagerly, not caring whatsoever that apparently, Seungmin didn't want to talk to him.

But his obvious interest weakened Seungmin's resolve a bit.

No one else asked him for his newly found passion, except for maybe Woojin, and the attention was somewhat nice.  
Just a little bit though.

“My noona is currently teaching me everything she knows about healing and helping people!”, he explained proudly.  
“At some point, I will be able to save everyone, who gets injured. And then I will be really strong!”

Jeongin's lips parted in awe.

“Really?”, he asked.  
“Any kind of injury? Then you will be like a fairy!”

This got Seungmin's interest.

“Wait, you know about fairies?”, he cut in, forgetting, that he originally had wanted the stranger to go away.  
“Does that mean you also know about goblins?”

“Of course, who doesn't?”

Jeongin wrinkled his nose.  
“I also know about elves and the fea-realm! And dragons! And vampires!”

Seungmin felt himself starting to grin.

“My noona knows everything about helping people and stuff!”, he explained.  
“But when I told her about the things I read in some books, like fairies, she had no clue about them!”

“Whoa, that's weird!”, Jeongin breathed.  
“My mum knows all about them and a lot of stories, too! If you want, I can take you to her, once she is done with her things!”

Alarm bells started ringing in Seungmin's head.  
He shouldn't go with starngers! Woojin and Yuqi always told him again and again.  
Never trust anyone but your own pack.

Although Seungmin couldn't really trust his own back either, could he?

“Where do you live?”, he questioned carefully instead of answering right away.  
To his surprise, Jeongin pointed directly at the bilding right next to theirs.

“Right there!”, he exclaimed. My mum got your alpha's permission to stay, because my father was a part of your pack.”

“Who was your father?”, Seungmin asked in confusion.  
He was sure, he had never seen Jeongin around in his life.

The boy shrugged nonchalantly.

“I don't know!”, he admitted in a carefree tone.  
“he died when I was young, so I don't remember him much!”

Seungmin wasn't sure, how to reply to that.

“Anyways,”, Jeongin piped up again.  
“Don't you wanna play with me a little? I'm bored and you don't seem to be doing much either!”

“I'm studying in my head!”, Seungmin defended, but inwardly, his resolve was crumbling.

Ever since Woojin had to go to training on a regular basis, Seungmin had nothing to do over the day, except for studying and reading.  
He Hadn't had anyone to play with in ages and if he was honest, he missed company a lot.

Being alone all the time with everyone around him ignoring him was very lonely with time.  
And Jeongin seemed to be okay.

“Fine, I'll play with you!”, Seungmin eventually decided, and Jeongin broke into the brightest grin, Seungmin had ever seen.  
It was close to radiant and made Seungmin smile as well.

“Do you wanna go scavenging?”

Jeongin pointed at the backside of both of their buildings.  
“There is another building back there with a lot of old stuff!”

His excitement pulled Seungmin in as well and he nodded eagerly, grin still on his face.

“Okay, show me!”, he demanded before running after Jeongin, who waved at him to follow.

__________

(three years later)

“Noona?”

Humming, Yuqi looked up at Seungmin's call.  
The both of them were busy sorting through their freshly collected herbs, while Woojin was away again, on duty to accompany their father and a few older alphas on a patrol through the city.

Ever since the boy had turned thirteen not too long ago, he was forced to be away from Seungmin even more often.

Seungmin hated it with every fiber of his being, but he had no saying in the decisions their parents made.

Scratch that, he had no saying in anything in the pack.  
On good days, he simply got ignored by everyone.  
On bad days, he was violently reminded of the fact, that except for himself, everyone within his father's pack could fight.

Yuqi was the only one beside Woojin and Jeongin, that didn't treat Seungmin like a ragdoll and whenever the female alpha could, she would take the omega with her on her daily tasks, like today.

And Seungmin loved the time, he was able to spent with the, because whenever they were alone, Yuqi would go on and on about the topic he was interested in the most: medicine!

Ever since Woojin had gotten beaten up for the first time, Seungmin had spent every single one of his free minutes learning everything he could about how to help people with possible injuries.  
Even minus the time he now spent with Jeongin almost every day, it still were a lot of free minutes.

Three more times, when Woojin had come back bloodied and bruised, he had needed Yuqi's help, always anxiously waiting for her to arrive and show him how to sooth his hurting older brother's pain.

The forth time, when Yuqi had finally entered their room, he had already been done with treating Woojin's wounds.

It was a cruel thing to say, but with every time, Woojin brought fresh injuries home with him, Seungmin gained a bit more of experience.  
By now, he had already treated various cuts and bruises, knew how to deal with concussions and sprained fingers and had even healed Woojin's arm once, after their mother had broken it in a practice fight.

Beside all the practice he got, Yuqi also made sure, he knew his way around all possible herbs that she knew of.

Since any kind of medicine from before the war was no longer usable, Seungmin had begun to focus mainly on the methods of naturopathy, how he had learned the people had called it before the war.  
Reading and writing were things he had long mastered the art of and now, even when Yuqi was busy with duties he couldn't be a part of, Seungmin spent his time by going through the few books he had gathered on the topic.

Once he had tried asking his father for more, but the man had only growled at him to get out of his sight.  
After that, Seungmin had simply asked his brother to keep his eyes open during his patrols and Woojin had actually managed to find a few books over the time.

How he had done it, he wouldn't tell Seungmin, but the omega had the fleeting suspicion, that Woojin had used their parent's connections to the higher-ups.  
The government was the only party in this world, who still had access to all kinds of books and knowledge after all.

Despite everyone seemingly hating him, Seungmin was still allowed to go to school, together with Woojin and even Jeongin, who was with them more often than not.  
Mainly, because their father didn't want to waste food on Seungmin – he surely would have starved to death already if it hadn't been for Woojin nad Yuqi – and wanted Seungmin to take advantage of the meals the government provided for the children visiting the school but Seungmin cared little about the reason.  
He was simply glad to be able to attend the lessons during the schooldays.

Today, however, he had left the big building unsatisfied and with more questions than he had entered it with in the morning.

“Can you explain the second genders to me?”

Surprised, Yuqi cocked her head to the side.

“Didn't your teacher do that?”, she asked but Seungmin shook his head.

“Not properly!”, he sulked while picking a piece of borage out of his small pile of marigold.  
“That goblin only told us, that there are two second genders, alphas and omegas, and that they differ through their scent and main instinct.”

Frowning, Yuqi stilled the movement of her own hands.

“What in the name of the heavens is a goblin?”, she asked with obvious confusion.

Seungmin shook his head in impatience.  
Here they were again with Yuqi's inexperience with the supernatural! His noona definitely didn't read enough books!

“I'll explain it later, it's something I read about, but I asked first!”

Yuqi gave a bemused snort.

“You and your insatiable thirst for knowledge!”

Eventually, she got a little more serious, steeling her expression before she resumed with her previous task of sorting the remaining herbs.

“What is it exactly, that you want to know?”

Seungmin didn't even have to think about that question.

“Is it true, that there are only two second genders?”, he asked eagerly.  
“And what are the exact differences between the genders?”

Maybe, by understanding all this, he would also be able to understand his parent's hatred for omegas.  
And maybe he could even prove them wrong!

Humming, Yuqi pushed aside another pile of sorted herbs. Rosemary, how Seungmin recognized.

“There are not just two genders!”, she eventually answered, her voice carefully lowered, although the two of them were the only ones in the room.

Seungmin's father had taken a big group of their pack on patrol, while the other half was out on the hunt with Seungmin's mother.  
Left behind were only Yuqi, him and a few guards that were positioned outside the huge building they had claimed as their own.

“How many are there then?”

Seungmin felt almost breathless with anticipation.  
This was new information, something he hadn't heard or read about before.

Yuqi sighed.

“Technically, there are only two second genders!”, she explained.  
“But there are still three groups of people!”

“Explain!”, Seungmin simply demanded.

One thing he had always hated, was how people took so unbelievably long to get to the point.  
Books were much more straightforward!

“Please?”, he added after a short moment of contemplation.

“Alright, alright, calm down, Sherlock!”, Yuqi grinned.

A part of Seungmin wanted to ask her about what she meant with 'sherlock' but he bit his tongue to swallow the words back down.  
If he gave Yuqi another question, he would never hear about the second genders!

“It's like this:”, Yuqi started again.  
“Before the war, there was no such thing as second genders! All people only had their first gender and were either female or male.”

(I am sorry to all gender-queer people or others who don't identify with one of the two genders. Please understand, that after the war, people's knowledge about LGTBQ+ was not that expanded, so that's why Yuqi only mentions two first genders!)

“But when the big war happened, almost all humans died and only very few survived. To assure, that the species 'homo sapiens' – how humans were called scientifically – could exist on, humans developed the second genders, which enabled more people to give birth.”

“All females and all omegas, regardless of the first gender!”, Seungmin nodded.  
That he had heard before.

“Right!”, Yuqi nodded in affirmation.  
“But the time between the big war and now was only a very short one. Normally, evolution and mutations in the DNA of a species take much longer to develop. Thousands of years to be exact. But this happened in only a good of five centuries. And I am sure, you of all people – Seungmin - know, how easily mistakes happen, if you try to do something too hastily, right?”

Yuqi quirked an eyebrow at Seungmin and he squirmed a bit in his seat.

Not too long ago he had almost mixed up wild garlic with snowdrops, a similar plant that was highly poisonous, just because he had been in a rush.  
Luckily, Yuqi had corrected his mistake in time.

“I learned from my mistake!”, Seungmin mumbled grumpily.  
“Now can you please get on with the story, noona?”

Lucky him, he didn't need to ask about DNA and evolution - since he had read enough about that topic as well - to be able to follow Yuqi's explanation until now.

“Basically, what I am trying to say, is: Because of the rushed evolution, some mistakes happened and not every person developed a full second gender.”, Yuqi went on calmly, unbothered by Seungmin's impatience.  
“So even though the main part of the leftover population is divided in alphas and omegas, there is also a very small percentage, that is still second-gender-less!”

Frowning, Seungmin leaned forward a bit.

“What do you mean, they are second-gender-less?”, he asked.  
“Everyone has a second gender!”

But Yuqi shook her head.

“Not everyone!”, she objected.  
“There is the group of people, that are called 'Betas'. Their DNA basically resembles those of a normal person before the great war and the development of the second genders. So they don't have one!”

“Then what does that mean?”, Seungmin questioned.  
“What makes them different from us?”

“That would be the second one of the two questions you asked be in the beginning!”,

Yuqi smiled overly sweet.  
“I'm getting to it, so shut up and listen, princess!”

“Don't call me that!”, Seungmin immediately retorted, but after that, he kept his lips sealed tightly shut, waiting for Yuqi to go on.  
He didn't want to risk angering his mentor and eventually bringing her so far as to stop her narration.

“Alright, so basically, there are three main things, that divide alphas and omegas into two groups!”, Yuqi went on.  
“First: their scent! Second: their main instinct! Third: their physical appearance!”

She interrupted herself to push another finished herb-pile to the side.  
Seungmin bit down on his lip hard to not say anything.

Patience! He had to be patient!

“First, their scent!”, Yuqi repeated with a small smile at Seungmin's efforts of staying quiet.  
“An alpha's scent is rather sharp and spiking most of the time. It is stronger than that of an omega and can't be controlled at will, at least not that easily. Their scent reacts according to the current situation and emotional state of the alpha. It takes more effort for them to control their scent at will and once they are riled up, they are unable to sooth their own scent, as it acts as a warning for other alphas or intruders to their territory.”

Forgetting about his plan of not speaking anymore, Seungmin blinked a little in confusion.

“But Woojinnie-hyung's scent is not sharp at all!”, he argued.  
“And he is an alpha for sure!” Jeongin's scent was a little more spiking, but it wasn't that bad either.

Luckily, Yuqi didn't seem to mind his disruption.

“You only think, it's not sharp, because you have known him since birth!”, she explained.  
“You have gotten used to it already. And although it is right, that Woojin's scent is a little softer than it is normal for alphas, it would still be strong for others, who smell it for the first time!”

“What about my scent?”, Seungmin asked, but this time, Yuqi signaled him to be quiet again.

“I'm getting to it!”, she assured calmly before moving on.  
“The scent of an omega is much softer, much sweeter than the one of alphas. It is meant to soothe and calm everyone around them and to do that, omega's are also able to vary the strength of their scent as needed for certain situations. The scent-glans, that give omegas - as well as alphas – their own individual scent, are located at your neck!”,

Yuqi reached out and let her pointer finger glide over the sensitive spot on the side of Seungmin's neck, right below his ear and he shuddered at the touch.  
No one touched him beside Woojin and Jeongin.

Unless one of the other alphas of their pack decided, he didn't free their way fast enough, but those touches were not very pleasant!

Leaning back again, Yuqi sent him a very serious look.

“Always be careful with them!”, she warned.  
“If they get destroyed, so does your scent! And that is a heavy blow for a person in this world. Our scent is a part of us and we cherish it! Always protect your scent!”

“Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful!”, Seungmin waved her off.  
“But what about the other differences?”

A laugh escaped Yuqi's throat.

“You are insufferable!”, she groaned in mock despair but didn't argue any further.  
Instead, she picked up her story again.

“The second part:”, she listed.  
“Your main instinct. It is connected to your inner wolf and is different for omega's and alphas. While an alpha's inner wolf's main instinct it is to protect, for an omega it is to preserve. The distinction is small, but you will understand it with time, don't worry!”

Seungmin closed his mouth, that he had already opened to ask for the difference.

Yuqi only grinned.

“Apart from your main instinct, your inner wolf is responsible for your own survival!”, she explained further.  
“If you get into a situation, that is - or could be – life-threatening, your inner wolf will take over and do, what is best for you to survive! That way, you are less endangered of dying from careless acts, like people did before the war!”

“They didn't have an inner wolf?”, Seungmin couldn't help but cut in.  
Thankfully, Yuqi let it slide again.

“No they didn't!”, she confirmed.  
“No scent, no inner wolf and -”, she tapped Seungmin on the nose. “no heightened senses!”

Seungmin scrunched his nose up.

“Heightened senses?”, he repeated.

Again, Yuqi nodded.

“Your second gender not only gives you a scent and a 'survival-assistant', but also a way better sense of smell and hearing.”, she stated.  
“Before the war, people could neither smell, nor hear that much. By now, our senses are almost as good as the ones of actual wolves, hence the name 'inner wolf'! It enables us to hunt and map out our surroundings better!”

Seungmin was frowning hard as he went through all the newly gained information. Then his thoughts came to a sudden halt at a hole in his knowledge.

“Then what about the betas!”, he asked.  
“You said, they don't have a second gender! Does that mean, they don't have any of that either?”

Smiling, Yuqi finished the last of her herb-piles and gave Seungmin her full attention.

“Good observation!”, she praised and Seungmin felt his cheeks heat up at the words.  
He liked praises, and the fact, that he was rarely able to get them out of Yuqi, only added to their value.

“You are right!”, Yuqi agreed with a nod.  
“Betas normally neither have a scent, nor an inner wolf or heightened senses, except for very few exceptions! That is also the reason, why they are often looked down upon, since this reduces their chances of survival drastically!”

Seungmin made a small noise of understanding, before he furrowed his brows once again.  
Something was not adding up.

“But my teacher said, Betas are dangerous!”, he then huffed.  
“Why would they be dangerous, if they cant even survive properly?”

Yuqi raised one eyebrow at him.

“I thought, your teacher only told you about alphas and omegas?”, she probed and Seungmin averted his gaze.

“Eventually, he said a bit more than that...”, he admitted sheepishly.  
“But noona's are way better at explaining things!”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, princess!”, Yuqi scolded, but the grin on her lips told Seungmin otherwise.  
To remain in her favor, he swallowed his usual 'Don't call me that!'.  
Instead, he carefully pushed on.

“So why would betas be dangerous?”

“If you get us the small bottles I collected, I'll keep talking!”, Yuqi retorted with a finger pointing to the shelf behind Seungmin and he almost tripped in the ambition to get his task done as fast as possible.

“Seungmin, what did we say about rushing things!”, Yuqi scolded and Seungmin forced himself to calm down a bit.

“You can already start talking!”, he assured his mentor over his shoulder while collecting the tiny glass bottles  
. “I can hear you from here!”

“You are unbelievable!”, Yuqi huffed but nonetheless, she began explaining again.

“It's not entirely true and not entirely wrong either!”

When Seungmin joined her at the told wooden table again, she took the bottles from him and pulled the two heavy stones closer, that they used to crush the herbs with.

“I'm sure, you have heard of alphas killing other people during a fight, because their pack was in danger, right?”

She stared at Seungmin in question.  
The omega nodded bitterly.

He had not only heard of it, and Yuqi knew that.  
He had also seen it first hand once.  
It hadn't been pleasant.

“Right, it's an alpha's inner wolf, that forces them to kill an enemy, if it is the thing that works most in favor for the alpha's pack's survival!”, Yuqi explained.  
“And although in our left-over society, it is still seen as treason to kill other humans, it is not judged as heavily, if an alpha becomes a killer, driven by their inner wolf. We cannot or just very barely resist out main instinct and since an alpha is forced to protect, he will go as far as needed to complete that task. Even is that means their own or someone else's death!”

“But how does that make Betas dangerous!”, Seungmin repeated again.

He felt his own impatience fluttering around in his chest.

Why couldn't Yuqi get to the point?

The alpha threw him a chastising look and Seungmin lowered his head in submission.

“Sorry, I'm just curious!”, he mumbled in apology and fortunately, Yuqi accepted it.

“Alphas - and omegas as well - can become dangerous to you, if you trigger their inner wolf!”, she continued.  
“But, there is a pattern to it, that is easy to understand. A normal alpha without any kind of mutation or mental illness will only attack you, if you endanger their survival. Or their pack. But apart from that, they will threaten you but not endanger you! For omegas it is the same. We are forced to act upon our instincts to protect and preserve and as long as someone is part of our pack, we can not harm them, because our inner wolf would prevent us from doing it!”

“And every alpha has those qualities?”, Seungmin probed.  
“Even my parents?”

Nodding, Yuqi grabbed a bundle of herbs and began pressing them between the stones, filling the air with the sharp scent of thyme.

“Yes, your parents technically have those qualities as well!”, she confirmed.  
“But how come, they can beat me and Woojinnie-hyung up then?”

Seungmin was at a loss

. “It's tricky with this one!”, Yuqi admitted.  
“Your parents mainly see each other as their pack. Your father would kill for your mother and the other way around. But for you and Woojin, they don't feel the same. Their inner wolves probably haven't accepted you yet, which is why they can easily turn against you!”

“What about hyung? Has his inner wolf accepted me?”, Seungmin asked.  
He was somewhat scared of the answer, because he wasn't too sure, how he would cope with it, if Yuqi told him, that he wasn't a part of his brother's family.

But Yuqi smiled in reassurance.

“Why do you think, your parents barely touch you and still let you stay here, although they normally don't allow omegas in their pack?”, she asked. “Woojin would protect you with his life and they know that! You are the main part of Woojin's family, don't worry!”

Warmth flooded Seungmin's chest but at the same time, he felt a stinging pain in his heart.  
It almost made him angry, that he still cared.

“So there is no way, mother and father will ever accept me, right?”, he asked, while lowering his head.

Yuqi didn't answer, but Seungmin didn't need her to.  
He understood now.

“Whatever!”, he growled, blinking multiple times to get the blurring of his vision to clear up again.  
“At least I have you and Woojinnie-hyung! And Jeonginnie!”

Yuqi didn't do anything to comfort him, but Seungmin was used to that by now.  
He knew, the alpha couldn't deal with his weakness and by now, he had taught himself not to cry.  
It wasn't worth the effort anyways!

“You still haven't told me, why betas are supposed to be dangerous!”, he reminded to distract himself and Yuqi.

“I wanna know!”

“Right!”

Yuqi cleared her throat shortly.

“As I was saying, alphas and omegas are predictable. Their actions are all following the main goal of their instincts and therefore, you can always count on certain actions. But for betas, it's different!”

She started pushing some of the crushed herbs into the first one of the small bottles.

“Since betas neither have an inner wolf, nor instincts, they have to make their decisions solely on their own. And they don't only have to, they also are able to! While we are bound to a certain extent, betas have more options. They die more easily, but they can also kill with less difficulties. If an alpha kills a person to protect their family, they were driven by their inner wolf and therefore aren't solely to blame as a person. If a beta kills a person however, it was their own decision to end that persons life, which is seen as high-treason among humans.”

Seungmin's head was buzzing with how many questions, combined with new information he had.  
He shook himself slightly to get his thoughts to clear up.

“So basically, alphas i'd have to poke for them to attack me, but betas could do it at any given moment, regardless of me triggering them or not?”, he asked after a few minutes of silence and Yuqi's broad smile told him, that he had gotten it right.

“Great job, Seungmin!”, she praised again.  
“You are getting smarter with every day!”

“I've always been this smart, noona!”, Seungmin gave back sassily.  
“Now what about the differences in physical appearances that you mentioned before?”

But Yuqi only let out a loud groan.

“Uh uh, sherlock, not gonna happen!”, she protested dramatically.  
“My head is spinning from all the questions and I'm not even the one having to understand them! Give me a break!”

Seungmin sat up.

“Oh right!”, he exclaimed.  
“I meant to ask before! What's a 'sherlock'?”

The loud thud, when Yuqi's forehead collided with the wooden surface of the table, was all he got in reply, followed by a long suffering sigh.

___________

(another year later)

Seungmin was busying himself with reading through one of his books, when suddenly, the door to his room got thrown open with such violence, that for a moment, the healer doubted the old wood's integrity.

His worries shifted to something else, however, when Woojin stumbled into the room.

His brother had been caught up in his training again and had already left Seungmin to himself early in the morning.  
Ever since then, Seungmin had been lying on the sheets they used, a blanket thrown over himself in the attempt to block out the cold, because while summers were bearable, winters were torturing in the small room him and Woojin lived in.

They couldn't make a fire in here because of the smoke and so they often only had each other to stay warm.  
Nonetheless, Seungmin was pretty sure, that two of his toes had already died from hypothermia.

Normally, Seungmin loved the moment, when Woojin finally returned, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a little later.  
Now however, Woojin's face was pale and his eyes widened enough to make Seungmin understand, that this would not be one of their pleasant evenings spent together.

“Hyung, what happened?”

Seungmin carelessly threw his book aside and untangled himself from the blankets to get up.

Woojin's chest was heaving when he tried to catch his breath, which still was rapid.  
Tiny droplets of sweat were covering his forehead and had soaked his bangs and when Seungmin stepped closer, he could see his brother's hands shake.  
He had never seen Woojin this out of it.

“They...they locked me up!”

Woojin's voice was quivering and his wide eyes started darting around wildly, as if he was searching for a possible enemy within their familiar bedroom.

“They just...Seungmin it was horrible, they...father just told me to find a way out and...but I couldn't breathe and...-”

At this point, Seungmin reached out and pulled his brother into a hug.  
His head was spinning, as he tried to understand the mayhem of words, that Woojin just spat into his face.  
What was going on?

He subtly tried to examine Woojin for any kind of injuries, but his brother seemed fine...physically at least!

When Woojin's normally strong arms wrapped around Seungmin's frailer form to claw onto his jacket, Seungmin had to bite his lip hard to keep a cool head.  
Someone had shaken up Woojin – big strong Woojin – to the point, where his brother was terrified.  
And Seungmin felt a deep rage starting to grow within him.

He had never once felt his inner wolf this clearly, but now it rose to the surface.

“Who did this, Hyung?”, he managed to press out while keeping his scent even to calm his shaking brother.  
“What happened out there?”

Sucking in another quivering breath, Woojin buried his nose in Seungmin's neck, right where the omega's scentgland was located.  
Normally, Seungmin loved it, when his brother did that, but right now, he couldn't enjoy it.

“Father meant, it is good for me to face my fears!”, Woojin eventually whispered.  
He sounded so small and broken, that Seungmin himself felt the urge to cry, but he swallowed his feelings back down.

This was not the place for weakness!  
Yuqi was right! Crying wouldn't help his brother!

“What did he do to you, Wooj?”

Seungmin forgot the honorifics on purpose, like he only did, when his brother and him were especially intimate.  
It only happened on special occasions, and Seungmin deemed this special enough.

“Do you remember the basement of this building?”, Woojin asked back.  
At least, now he was talking in normal sentences, even though his voice was still thin and cracked from time to time.

Seungmin only gave a hum, as he started rubbing circles into his brother's back to soothe him further.

“They...”, Woojin paused to take another breath.  
“Father led me down there today. Then he said, I would have to face my fears and pushed me inside and....”

Seungmin felt frozen the moment he realized, that Woojin had started crying.

Woojin never cried!  
Not when their parents beat him up, not when Seungmin had broken down with the fear of dying one time, not when he had broken his arm.

Woojin was his older brother, always somewhat bigger and better and stronger than Seungmin.  
It was exasperating and yet reassuring somehow.  
And now, Woojin was crying in Seungmin's arms, with the omega being unsure of how to help him.

“Wooj, what did they do?”, Seungmin urged his brother.  
He needed to know!

“They locked me up in there!”, Woojin cried out suddenly, voice much louder than before.  
“They closed the door and left me there! I don't know, how many hours I've tried to break down the door, to scream for help, but no one would come!”

Seungmin wanted to move, but his body wouldn't react.

Shock and disbelief had paralyzed him and in his chest, the boiling rage got mixed up with ice-cold sickness.  
While he had been reading in peace, complaining to himself about the cold, his brother had lived through hell.  
And Seungmin had done nothing to help him.

“Oh my god..."

Seungmin barely heard himself, as he tightened his grip around Woojin, who was still crying into his shoulder.

“Wooj, I'm so sorry! I am so so sorry!”

There was no reply from Woojin and Seungmin didn't blame his brother.  
The alpha had always been somewhat scared of the dark. Not much, but a little.  
Locked up in a black room with no way out and all alone for hours was...it was plain cruel.  
Nothing their parents had done before, could live up to this and Seungmin felt a strong hatred starting to grow within him.

When the door opened again, this time a little more carefully, Seungmin half expected to see Yuqi checking up on them.  
But it wasn't Yuqi.  
  
It was one of his parent's companions – a sturdy alpha – whose name Seungmin had never known.

“Woojin, your father expects you back in the main room!”, he growled without even doing so much as wasting a glance on Seungmin.  
“He said, your training for today is not done yet!”

Normally, Seungmin kept his head out of situations like this one.  
Normally, he just lived up to his quiet role and kept his mouth shut in the presence of other alphas from their pack.  
But this time, his fury wouldn't allow him indifference.

“He's not going anywhere else today!”, he hissed at the alpha, whose expression turned from surprise to anger.

“You don't get to decide that!”, the alpha barked.  
“You don't get to decide anything! You're just a worthless omega!”

The words probably should have hurt, but Seungmin didn't feel anything but the burning rage flowing through his veins like fluid fire.  
And the cold hatred deep within his guts.

“Tell my father, he is to leave my brother alone, or so help me, I will personally poison him in his sleep!”

Woojin let out a choked gasp at his words, But Seungmin only pulled him behind his own body.  
He was slimmer than his brother, but just as tall despite his younger age.

The alpha in front of him stared at him in disbelief.

“What did you just say?”

He sounded angry, but it was nothing compared to how Seungmin felt.

“You heard me!”, he growled back.  
“If my father-”, he spat out the word as if it was the most disgusting thing in the world. “disagrees with my decision, he is welcome to to stop ignoring my existence for the first time in five years and talk to me about it! For now, Woojin will stay with me in our room.”

He stepped up right to the flabberghasted alpha in front of him.

“Now if you would be so kind as to get out, so that I can close the door and fix what you did!?”

The alpha's punch almost sent him crashing into Woojin behind him, but Seungmin caught himself.  
There was something hard inside of his mouth and when he spat it out, it was a piece of his tooth, covered in blood.  
His cheek ached like hell, but now, Seungmin felt himself slip away.

He could still see and ear and smell everything, but it was as if he was just watching, while his body moved forward on it's own account.  
  
Seungmin caught the alpha's second punch and wrapped his fingers tightly around the man's wrist.  
His small hand barely reached around half of the alpha's arm, but Seungmin didn't care.  
With one strong push, which he wasn't even sure, where he took the strength for from, he shoved the alpha out of their room.

“Leave, or I will reevaluate my choice of never hurting others again!”, he snarled at the alpha, who now had a slight bit of uneasiness mixed in with his anger.  
Then, Seungmin slammed the door shut and returned to his brother, who was still shaking, eyes held open wide.

He kept refusing to close them, scared of not being able to see his surroundings again, and Seungmin's heart broke a little at the sight, while he tried to calm Woojin down.

He had hoped for his father actually listening and staying away for tonight, but unfortunately, fate was not in their favor.

Not too long after his fight with the other alpha, the door got opened again and in barged three people, one man and two women.

They grabbed Seungmin and pulled him away from his brother's side.

Seungmin didn't fight it.  
He knew, it would have been futile and so he let himself get dragged out of the room.

While he was being led towards the main room, Seungmin caught a glimpse of Yuqi, who was watching silently from the sidelines, her mouth drawn into a tight line.

'Please go and look after Woojin!', Seungmin begged her with his eyes.  
He could only hope, she would understand

. The main room was mostly empty, when the three alphas entered with Seungmin.  
Only his father was waiting for them in the middle of the room.

The man's dominant brows were pulled together tightly and his brown eyes were twinkling with anger.  
At age eight, Seungmin had always thought, that maybe they looked alike.

By now, he was glad that they didn't.

The male alpha, who had had a tight grip around Seungmin's upper arm, suddenly pushed him forward and almost sent Seungmin flying onto the lithic tiles of the floor.  
He barely managed to catch himself.

“Who do you think you are?”

His father's voice was dripping with uncontained fury and Seungmin had to suppress a shiver.  
The last time, he had seen the man this angry, a traitor to their pack had gotten killed.  
But despite his personal fear, Seungmin's inner wolf still didn't seem to be done with his fight.

“My name is Seungmin, your second son, maybe you remember me!”, he hissed back, only to promptly catch a blow to the face, delivered by no one else but his father.  
The man's broad palm collided with Seungmin's already bruised cheek with a loud slap and Seungmin felt tears form in his eyes from the sting, but he refused to let them fall.

Don't show them, that you are weak!

“You dare to talk back to me like that? The only reason you are alive, is because I let you live!”

His father stepped closer, his strong scent surrounding Seungmin like a cloud, preventing him from breathing.  
He choked out a cough, when his inner wold started turning restlessly, deeply unnerved by the spiking alpha-scent blocking all of his senses.

“I'm alive, because other than you and mother, my brother loves me enough to take care of me!”, Seungmin pressed out, still fighting against the scent, while he struggled to keep up eye-contact with his father.

Said man bared his teeth at his words.

“Woojin is still weak!”, he growled out.  
“But once I've driven that weakness out of him, he won't need you anymore! He will drop you like empty nutshells and step on you while passing!”

Despite his trying to remain strong, Seungmin felt his heart waver at the words.  
Cold fear buried it's claws in his guts.

“He would never do that!”, he yelled back.

'Don't show them that you care!', a voice kept repeating inside his head, but nonetheless, his voice quivered.

“He would never abandon me!”

“Oh but he will!”

His father let out a humorless snort.  
“You hold no value for him! You're just weak and helpless!”

Helpless.  
The word stung more than Seungmin could anticipate and he sucked in a gasp as his chest tightened in pain.  
He was helpless, wasn't he? Not even able to defend himself, if his father decided to end him right here and now.

NO!

The word echoed through Seungmin's head and suddenly, his inner wolf was there again, rising with such power, that Seungmin was unable to fight it back down.  
But he didn't want to anyway.

“You call me weak every time you get the chance!”, he snarled at his father, who looked surprised upon his sudden outburst.  
“You say I am weak and defenseless, yet you never gave me the possibility to train, like you did with Woojin-hyung! You say, I am helpless in this world, yet I am still alive and able to heal whatever injury you bestowed my brother with! You call me the weak one, just because I was born a different gender than you, and yet I am the one standing here, while Woojin broke down!”

Seungmin knew, it were cruel words, but he had to divert his fathers attention from his brother.  
He was pretty sure, that Woojin wouldn't be able to go through the procedure with the dark room one more time today. Or even fight against his father for training purposes.

In fact, Seungmin had never treated anything, that wasn't a physical injury, but he had read a little bit about how shock could increase the chances of physical harm or even cause it itself.  
He had to protect Woojin!

His father let out a disbelieving laugh at his words.

“Are you implying, you are stronger than your brother?”, he asked incredulously.  
“You, an eleven-year-old omegian boy with no muscles and a mouth too loose for his own good?”

“Interpret my words however you want!”, Seungmin gave back stubbornly.  
He was almost surprised, that his father was aware of his current age.

“I won't take them back!”

The sparkling of his father's eyes should have warned him enough, but Seungmin had been too focused on his rage to notice the shift in the atmosphere.

The next moment, he was on the floor, his shoulder and jaw aching with such power, that Seungmin had to suppress a gasp.  
That was nothing against the kicks though.

Again and again they met his stomach and limbs, forcing him to curl up on himself to at least protect his more sensitive parts.  
And every kick sent another wave of agony though Seungmin.

For a moment, everything stopped, and Seungmin dared to look up a bit, only to see his father's scowl.

“You want to be stronger than your brother?”, the alpha scoffed.  
“You aren't even defending yourself!”

Rage forced Seungmin back onto his knees.  
He refused to cower in front of his father, but his wobbly legs refused to carry him.  
Everything hurt and Seungmin was sure, that he had broken a few of his ribs, but the pain was not strong enough to drown out his fury.

Since standing up was not an option, he settled with remaining in a sitting position to glare at his father.

“I CHOSE not to defend myself, not only because I don't know how to, but also, because I decided to never cause harm to others!”, he choked out.

There was the taste of iron on his tongue, but Seungmin was unsure, whether it still was from his broken tooth, or if his father had managed to damage his lungs.

“And that makes you weak!”, his father spat.  
“But since you seem to be so sure of your strength, let's see, how you will cope with what Woojin had to!”

Before Seungmin could add anything, the two female alphas from before grabbed him by both of his arms again and began dragging him out of the room, away from his father, who only turned his back on him.

Seungmin wanted to yell, to shout after him, call him a coward and a beast, but he knew, it wouldn't have any kind of effect, aside from riling the alpha up even further.

At least – so Seungmin was sure – his father would leave Woojin alone for tonight.  
The man wouldn't deem it important enough to sent another troop of alphas after his oldest son.

His right leg hurt too much to fully use and Seungmin stumbled quite a bit, as he tried to keep up with the two alphas.  
Eventually, they reached the staircase, that led down into the darkness of the basement.  
  
Without stopping, Seungmin was dragged further, to the bottom of the steps, where he could barely make out the door of the small room there.  
It led into a void, that looked like a pitch-black hole, ready to devour Seungmin and never spit him out again.

A harsh push shoved Seungmin into the darkness, then the door slammed shut behind him.  
And he was alone, left behind without any light, food, water or the ability to flee.

Before, Seungmin had been too riled up to feel scared, but now the fear crept up on him.

“Hello?”, he called out testingly, but of course, no one answered.

The room smelled like mold and cold stone.  
In a way it was better than the crushing scent of his father from before, but the amount of emptiness and solitude it promised, still let tears well up in Seungmin's eyes.  
This time, he allowed them to fall as he dropped to the floor, and the darkness was his only witness, when Seungmin cried properly for the first time in years.

Eventually, his tears dried out and Seungmin found himself confronted with the agony still cursing through his body in dull waves.

The left side of his ribcage was hurting, stinging with every deep breath he took, and his right leg felt weirdly numb.  
Additionally, his cheek was swollen and hot and Seungmin forced himself to his knees to press the side of his face against the cold stone of the wall to soothe the swelling a bit. The position was awkward, but Seungmin remained in it for a few minutes, while he tried to figure out, what was wrong with his leg.

It didn't seem broken but it was definitely bruised severely and maybe even sprained. He would have to wrap it up, once he was out of here.

A tiny part of him was horrified, that his father would let him die down here, alone and scared, but as soon as the thoughts came up, Seungmin mentally shook his head.  
He still had Yuqi, Jeongin and Woojin.  
His brother would get him out of here for sure!

Eventually, Seungmin slumped back into a sitting position with his back propped up against the locked door.  
He had no idea, how much time had passed already, but the cold biting his fingers and his nose indicated, that it couldn't be too short.  
Down here, the temperatures were even worse than in his and Woojin's room and Seungmin very dearly hoped, that he wouldn't freeze to death over the night.

To keep himself warm, Seungmin tried to get up a few times to walk around a bit, but since he couldn't see a thing, he was too scared to make steps.  
And on top of that, his leg hurt like hell, so eventually, Seungmin sat down on the hard floor again.

Another period arrived, where he felt so incredibly hopeless, that Seungmin started crying again.  
The tears were hot on his cold cheeks, burning on his bruised skin and it only made Seungmin sob harder, until the pain in his chest because of his broken ribs got too strong, forcing him to calm down a little to not cry out in agony.

Again, his tears dried up, leaving nothing behind but crusty stains on his cheeks and his eyes burning from the salt.

Yuqi had once told Seungmin, that he shouldn't sleep, if it was too cold.  
It could cause your heart to beat slower and slower, until you wouldn't wake up again.  
But despite his knowledge, Seungmin felt his eyes drooping shut.

He felt drained for everything he had and the pain in his body was not exactly heightening his will to stay conscious.  
By now, his original fear had subsided a little and he had evolved to a mindset of indifference.  
Nothing mattered anymore.

He was helpless anyways.

So eventually, Seungmin drifted off into a restless sleep, haunted by nightmares and terrors.

The next time, a bad dream let him jolt awake, Seungmin was sure, the monster was still present, waiting somewhere within the dark room to attack him.

He started crying again, whimpering for help while he pounded against the door behind him with weak fists and panicked gasps for oxygen he couldn't seem to find in the air.  
But again, no one came, no one saved him.

The realization, that he was still completely alone, settled within Seungmin's stomach as heavy dread and eventually, he gave up.  
Instead – still scared out of his wits because of his imagination playing tricks on him – Seungmin started screaming at the darkness surrounding him, yelling for his nemesis to show itself, to leave him alone.

When his voice died out, his throat too raw and spent from his cries, he opted for returning to his old spot against the door and curled up into a ball, his face buried in his arms.

His cheek felt hyper-sensitive and his ribcage ached, but at least, like this, Seungmin was unable to see this looming blackness around him any longer.

He fell asleep again, this time too exhausted for his brain to come up with any dreams.

Time went on, and Seungmin had no idea, how long he had already been down here.  
His body was dried out from crying so much and his stomach was begging for food.

To top things off, Seungmin felt the urge to relieve himself, but he refused to do it here in a corner of the room.  
His pride wouldn't let him yet.

When the deafening silence around Seungmin became too much, he started retelling all the stories he had read and still remembered.

It was creepy, how his own thin voice filled the empty room, getting thrown back by its lifeless walls, but it was better than nothing.  
So when Seungmin had told all the stories he remembered, he started singing the songs Woojin and him knew.

Every now and then his voice cracked and he wasn't able to carry the tune like his brother was, but despite that, it reminded Seungmin of Woojin, allowing him to feel less lonely.

Seungmin had just reached the last song, when suddenly, voices got loud on the other side of the door, making him sit up so hastily, that Seungmin hissed out at the pain shooting through his head and chest.

He barely had time to scoot away from the door, when it already got flung open.

A person barged in and Seungmin wanted to cry from relief, when his brother's soothing scent enveloped him like a blanket.  
By now, Seungmin had lost sense in his fingers and toes because of the cold.

“Minnie, oh my god!”

Woojin crouched down beside him, his big palm wrapping around Seungmin's frozen fingers.  
He couldn't see his brother's expression in the twilight of the room, that only got brightened by the little light, that fell in through the opened door, but Seungmin could smell Woojin's distress.

“I am so sorry, Minnie!”, the alpha choked out, sounding close to tears.

“I should have protected you, I should have...”

Seungmin stopped Woojin's rambling with a hug, burying his face in his brother's neck, until he couldn't sense anything but his brother's smell.  
Warm. It was so warm and familiar.

If Seungmin had any tears left, he would have cried.

“I protected you this time!”, he whispered, his voice still to spent to produce proper sound.  
“Like family should!”

Wordlessly, Woojin wrapped his arms around Seungmin and picked him up with ease, despite the omega's size.  
Then he carried Seungmin up the stairs.

The light was almost blinding after the hours spent in darkness and Seungmin had to blink a few times to get used to the new lightning again.  
When he did, he was able to recognize Yuqi's face next to the entrance of the basement.  
He sent her a small smile as thanks, not doubting, that she had helped Woojin to get him out of there.

“Let's get you cleaned up and warm again!”, Woojin mumbled into Seungmin's ear and he hummed in confirmation.

“Sounds good!”

Seungmin suppressed a hiss, when Woojin shifted him a bit in his arms.  
“I also definitely need something to drink and Yuqi-noona’s advice on broken ribs!”

Woojin's shocked face was the last thing, Seungmin registered, before he passed out.

__________

(one year later)

The soft breeze of the wind brushed through Seungmin's hair and cooled him down a bit in the heat of summer.

Him and Woojin were out with a small group of their pack's members for a patrol around the city and the temperatures were still high, despite it already being in the afternoon.

Sighing, Seungmin closed his eyes for a second while holding onto Woojin's sleeve, trusting in his older brother to lead him.  
He enjoyed the time he was able to spent outside on patrols.

Ever since the incident between him and his father, his parents had started acknowledging him differently.  
They still treated him like air most of the time, but by now, Seungmin no one batted an eyelash, when Seungmin joined Woojin during his patrols or watched his training.

Seungmin knew, that if it came to a fight, no one would protect him, except for Woojin, but he trusted in his own instincts to survive.

And in the mutual understanding of other people, that their pack was better not to be meddled with.

Seungmin still received kicks and blows sometimes, still had to fight for his dinner in the evenings - although not physically – but somehow, it still felt easier than before.

He had come to the conclusion, that his parents would never acknowledge his own strength.  
All they would ever see in him, was a weak omega, a failure of nature.  
But he still had Woojin and Yuqi by his side and Jeongin still stuck with him as well.

By now, the younger alpha and him were almost as close as actual brothers and Woojin had long accepted Jeongin into their family as well.

Yuqi was walking ahead of him and Woojin with her eyes scanning their surroundings every now and then.  
They turned around a corner and the gray school building came into sight.

Normally, Seungmin and Woojin would have had lessons today along with Jeongin, but their mother had ordered them to skip them and join the patrol.  
Tomorrow, they would be there again, though.

Their group was about to pass the area in front of the school, where the other students were currently devouring their meals, when suddenly, shouts got loud from the other side of the place.  
Alarmed, Seungmin whipped his head around, only to witness, how a man threw himself on a smaller boy, who had just arrived here.

Chances were, he had stolen something from the man and had been on the run, but Seungmin doubted it mattered right now.  
The man was an alpha, as far as he could tell and the guy's riled up scent was so spiking, that it even still polluted the air around Seungmin, many meters away from the fight.

Despite the fight going on right beside the three aiders, that were on duty at the school, none of them made an attempt of helping the young boy, who desperately tried to defend himself against his much larger opponent.

Seungmin scoffed in disgust.  
  
How could they just watch?  
How could they let this happen?

He assumed, the young boy was an unregistered one, whom the aiders felt no obligation to save, but he refused to try and understand, why their inner wolfs let it happen.  
At least one of the aiders was an omega himself and that should have been enough to force the guy into action.  
Seungmin himself felt the strong pulling in his chest that told him to do something.  
His own inner wolf was turning restlessly, urging him to break up the fight and treat both of the stranger's wounds.

“Aren't you gonna do something?”

Another voice rose over the sounds of the fight and Seungmin looked over to the spot, where one of the students had walked up to the aiders with widened eyes.  
Seungmin believed to have seen him before, maybe during the lessons.

When all three of the aiders mumbled more or less valid apologies, Seungmin could smell the anger erupting in the boy's scent.  
Like a wall it hit Seungmin with how intense it was – the sharp scent of peppermint, mixed with apples and the smell of rain – and let him inch closer to Woojin subconsciously.  
His older brother reached for his hand and gave it a small squeeze, while the two of them kept watching.  
  
“No wonder the human population almost got wiped out!”

The words were harsh and Seungmin sucked in a breath in surprise.  
Not many people dared to stand up to an aider.

The boy didn't wait for anyone to punish him but turned around and suddenly headed right for the fight.  
Before Seungmin could fully register the boy's intentions, he had already thrown himself against the taller alpha, shoving him off the injured boy on the ground, who quickly started crawling away.

He was heading right into their direction and Seungmin was unable to deny his inner wolf any longer.

“Hyung, I need to help!”, he whispered into Woojin's direction, who only heaved a small sigh.

Yuqi threw them a knowing glance before gathering the patrol around her.

“Come on, let's go back!”, she ordered loudly, leading the other three alphas away, while Woojin and Seungmin stayed behind, until their group disappeared around the next building's corner.

Immediately after, Seungmin hurried forward, rushing to the injured boy's side, who had turned onto his back by now, his chest still heaving from the fight.  
Both sides of his face were bruised, his left eye was swollen and his nose was bleeding so heavily, that Seungmin had to assume, it was broken.  
  
He crouched down beside the boy, who turned out to be an alpha, judging by the scent.  
His eyes were closed and so Seungmin opted to calling out to him first.

“Hey, can you hear me?”

The boy blinked a few times before his unharmed eye widened in fear.  
He tried scooting away from Seungmin, but failed miserably.

Seungmin soothingly raised his hands.

“It's okay!”, he assured.  
“I won't hurt you, I just want to take a look at your wounds! I doubt, there is much I can do, but I have a little bit of ointment with me, that should help!”

The boy's eyes switched between him and Woojin, but eventually gave a curt nod.  
  
Carefully, Seungmin traced the boy's nose.  
It was indeed broken, but luckily it seemed to be a straight break.  
Then he reached into his bag, that he had started bringing with him whenever he left their pack's building.

Within he had a few small bottles, that could be used for wounds and other injuries, as well as needle and a thread, bandages and water.

Pulling out one of the little bottles, Seungmin opened it and slowly spread a bit of the mixture within on the boy's worst bruises, before he packed everything back into his bag.

“There you go, this should ease it a little!”, he mumbled before standing back up.  
“Your legs are fine, right?”

The boy nodded quickly and Seungmin sent him a small smile.

“Then I suggest, you run now!”, he told the guy honestly.

It was only a question of time, until the older alpha's attention would switch back to him.

“Thank you!”

Hastily the boy scrambled to his feet.  
He looked a little funny with his swollen face, covered in slightly green ointment, but Seungmin forbid himself to laugh.  
The situation was anything but funny.

The boy waved him one last time before starting to run the other direction, away from the fight and the school.

Turning his attention back to the fight, Seungmin was able to witness, how in that exact moment, the dark-haired boy, who had intervened before, planted a strong kick between the older alpha's legs, before he got knocked down himself.

The man crumbled and stayed down, even when the boy rose to his feet again.

Seungmin was flashed.  
He had never seen such a young boy stand up to a grown up man and win!  
This guy was really something.

Now, however, realization seemed to overcome the boy, because Seungmin could very clearly see the fear spreading on the guy's expression.

Then, without another word, the boy turned around and ran, sprinting away with newfound power, that could only result from adrenaline and panic.

“We have to find him!”

It surprised Seungmin beyond wits, when Woojin was the one to make the suggestion first.  
Raising one brow at his brother, Seungmin tilted his head to the side a bit.

“I mean, I totally agree, but since then are you just as eager as me to help wounded people?”, he asked jokingly.

Woojin stared at the point, where the guy had vanished.

“I never heard anyone say something like he did!”, he explained quietly.  
“Someone, who would meddle with something he isn't a part of, endangering himself, just to help someone in need! It's...admirable!”

“Or stupid!”, Seungmin added dryly despite sharing his brother's thoughts.  
Woojin only threw him a small glare, making Seungmin grin.

“Alright, let's find him then!”, he mused.  
“Hopefully, his strong scent will last a little longer!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, that was our Minnie's Story!  
> I will probably write another shorter one from Woojin's Point of few, even though he was mentioned a lot in here!
> 
> The first time i wrote this, i totally forgot to include Jeongin, which is why i had to include his Scenes afterwards, which is why it's not that much of him in here. But i will soon post his own backstory, so there you will find out more about him!;)
> 
> See you guys tomorrow for the real update!  
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated!!:)I love to read whatever you think or have to say about my Story!


	5. #5: What happened in the storage room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Woojin and Chan  
> Setting: apartment-Tower; storage room + stairs  
> Time: when woochan goes to Change clothes after comeing back from the stream (chapter 27)
> 
> Warning! Mention of blood/violence + mental health Problems
> 
> Includes: slight Woochan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! 
> 
> This is written in a very blunt and rough way to indicate the mess inside Chan's mind. Some might find it triggering through the voices, that are mentioned and that are somewhat degrading towards Chan.
> 
> If that might be the case for you, please do not read!

Chan felt so unbelievably cold.  
  
The only warm part of his entire body seemed to be his right wrist, that Woojin was holding onto to carefully tug him forward from time to time and make sure, Chan wouldn't stumble on the stairs.  
With every step, the darkness around them got thicker and even Chan's tired brain began wondering.  
  
“Woojin?”, he asked carefully, as the hand around his wrist tightened a little.  
  
He probably should go back to using honorifics with the older, but for some reason, something inside him felt repelled to do it.  
Not because he had lost respect for Woojin, but because it just didn't feel right anymore. He himself didn't know an explanation.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
Woojin's voice had a slight strain to it and Chan furrowed his brows a little.  
  
So Woojin was indeed not as calm as he would like to make Chan believe.  
  
Sniffing the air, Chan searched for Woojin's scent. Although he did have the better senses a second gender came along with, he had to actively use them to notice things.  
Smells didn't just craze his nose like that. He had to focus and catch them on his own to notice them.  
  
Now that he concentrated, Woojin's strong scent hit him like a wall he ran against.  
Filled with the sour stench of fear, it was way less pleasant than it used to be and Chan immediately forced the older into a stop by halting his own steps.  
  
Woojin was barely visible in the darkness, when he turned around.  
  
“Chan?”, he asked, voice wavering slightly.  
“Are you okay?”  
  
Chan almost snorted at that.  
It was so like Woojin to ask that at a time when he himself was the one struggling.  
  
“I am, but I can clearly sense, that it's the exact opposite for you!”, he answered calmly.  
  
It was a lie, if he was honest. Chan still felt anything but fine.  
But his screaming thoughts were polite enough to quiet down a little while he focused on Woojin.  
  
“It's because of the darkness, right?”, he added carefully.  
“Because you can't see well down here!”  
  
Letting out a shaky breath, Woojin hummed in agreement.  
  
“Normally, I don't come down here after nightfall, since it's so dark, but all our spare clothes are in the room downstairs, so...”, he trailed off, words fading away into the sheer emptiness surrounding them.  
  
Immediately, the voices in Chan's head got louder again.  
  
This was his fault. If Woojin hadn't helped him with digging Zillah's grave, then the older wouldn't have to go change.  
Chan owed him so unbelievably much.  
  
“Go back to where you can see properly!”, he ordered calmly.  
This was the fewest Chan could do for Woojin. Staying calm and helping him in one of his rare moments of weakness.  
  
“I'll go get you clothes! Do you want anything special I should look for?”  
  
He could practically feel the warmth of Woojin's stare on his frozen skin.  
It stung more than every single one of Seungmin's stitches.  
  
Chan wasn't worthy of Woojin's warmth! He would rather stay cold and feel the punishment for being a monster with every inch of his being.  
  
“Normally, I wouldn't take your offer, but I feel like you won't judge me for my fear, so if you would do this, I would be very grateful!”, Woojin mumbled.  
  
His fingers on Chan's wrist loosened a bit to glide down to Chan's hand.  
Fire erupted under Chan's skin, when he felt Woojin's thumb brushing over his cold knuckles. It tingled as if Woojin's warmth was igniting Chan's own flames and allowed them to start melting the ice that was Chan's body by now.  
  
“Anything in particular?”, he choked out again, his voice a barely controlled gasp.  
  
A part of him wanted to pull away, while the other felt unable to move.  
  
Completely unaware of Chan's inner struggle, Woojin kept their hands locked, maybe even to ground himself as well in the darkness.  
  
“There is a pile of clothes, that holds my scent!”, he explained quickly.  
He sounded steadier now, but Chan guarded himself to think of Woojin as calm.  
  
He himself knew, how well true feelings could be hidden under plain sight.  
  
Woojin continued.  
  
“That one has all the clothes, that are mine. You can pick some from there.”  
  
Chan nodded, only to realize right after, that this was a pretty stupid thing to do, considering the momentary lightning of their current location.  
  
“Sure thing!”, he added, eager to get going.  
By now, his entire arm felt on fire, his heart going a hundred miles per hour.  
  
He had no idea, why Woojin's presence was riling him up so much all of the sudden, since he had been just fine only a day prior, but that didn't change the fact, that right now, he was ready to jump out of his own skin to escape Woojin's grasp.  
  
Finally, Woojin's fingers released Chan's hand and it fell back beside his body.  
  
Biting his tongue to provide the words from slipping out, that would beg Woojin to not leave him alone, Chan cleared his throat.  
  
“I'll be back in a second!”, he promised.  
“Just go upstairs again, where the lightning is better!”  
  
“Thanks, Chan!”, came Woojin's gentle response and this time, Chan bit his tongue to not scream at the older.  
  
_'Stop being so nice!'_ , he wanted to yell.  
_'Stop treating me, like I deserve all your warmth, when I really clearly don't!'_  
  
It only made him hope, let him crave the warmth he knew he had no right to enjoy while Zillah was buried six feet under in an icy grave, all alone.  
  
Because, even if Chan never felt guilty for killing Keir, he did mourn for his old friend.  
  
Hastily he turned his back on Woojin and started down the stairs, while his fingers brushed along the cold walls to guide him through the darkness.  
Soon, he reached the bottom and followed the hallway, until he found the opening that led into the storage room.  
  
Chan hadn't deemed it possible, but inside the small room, it was even darker than in the hallways, forcing him to rely on his other senses completely.  
  
Sniffing to identify the direction Woojin's clothes were in, Chan carefully made his way through the room, until his shoe met the resistance of the pile of fabric.  
Woojin's scent embraced him, when he crouched down to dig through the bundle, until his hands found some soft fabric in the shape of pants.  
  
_His hands._  
  
In the fraction of a second, the voices were back, screaming at him even louder than before.  
  
_His hands._  
_His dirtied hands._  
_They were red!_  
  
It was ridiculous, if he thought about it properly. He couldn't even see his hands at the moment.  
Plus, he had washed them thoroughly before to avoid Seungmin's wrath.  
  
Now he would catch it anyways though. The healer would never forgive Chan for having killed a person.  
  
There was a weird satisfaction settling in the pit of Chan's stomach at the thought. The thought, that at least Seungmin would openly show his disgust for the blond.  
  
Seungmin hated lies. Seungmin would definitely show him, how much of a monster Chan was!  
  
Chan had let go of the pants, his hands hanging in the air uselessly, as he tried to make out their shapes, but to no avail.  
Nonetheless, he was sure, they were covered in blood.  
  
_Red, sticky warm blood. Keir's blood. Dirty blood._  
  
Chan didn't even realize, his breathing had picked up, until he was rapidly gasping for air. But just like back in the cave, no oxygen seemed to penetrate his lungs.  
  
A whimper escaped his lips, when Chan realized, that this time, no one would save him.  
This time, no Woojin would rip him out of his thoughts.  
No Jisung would guide him through his panic.  
No Hyunjin would keep him company with his calming presence and no Changbin would hug him better.  
No Seungmin would soothe him with his scent and no Jeongin would distract him by asking for stories.  
And no Felix would talk to him in his mother-tongue to remind him of his parents.  
  
He was all alone, caught in the dark.  
  
This time, he would have to make it out on his own.  
  
Chan felt his hands shaking. Whether from the cold or from his inner war, he wasn't sure.  
  
Meanwhile, he tried to blend out the voices that were calling him a monster over and over again.  
  
_'He deserved to die!'_ , he inwardly screamed back just to be able to control the volume in his head for even just a second.  
But the voices yelled right back, even louder than before.  
  
_'So do you!'_  
  
Before, Chan had wanted to escape Woojin's touch and the unbearable heat it had brought.  
But by now, he longed for the older's presence.  
  
For some reason, his head hadn't been as loud, while Woojin had still been there.  
  
A low sob left Chan's throat, when he hastily grabbed some random pieces of clothing for him and Woojin and bolted out of the room.  
His shoulder collided harshly with the frame of the door, when he didn't aim for the right exit properly, but Chan ignored it, only hastily stumbling down the hallway again, until he crashed down on the stairs when his foot got caught by the first step.  
  
Not bothering to soothe his aching knees, Chan pushed himself up again and kept running, until his eyes were able to make out his surroundings again. And even then, he rushed on, until finally, Woojin's waiting figure got visible on the stairs that led up towards the main hall.  
  
“Chan? Are you okay?”, the older questioned. His voice was so infuratingly soothing in Chan's ears.  
  
Panting, Chan stared down to examine his hands, that were still holding onto the clothes he had fetched for him and Woojin.  
  
His palms were clean. They almost looked white with how untainted they were.  
  
Even though they had done such monstrous things.  
  
He really was no better than Keir.  
  
“I'm fine!”, Chan heard himself say, as he threw Woojin his clothes.  
His voice sounded weirdly far away again, but he ignored it.

 _He wasn't fine! He was anything but fine!_  
  
“Let's change and join the others!”  
  
Nodding, Woojin hastily rid himself of his wet clothes and pulled on the dry ones Chan had brought him. Then he turned back towards Chan.  
  
Even in the dim twilight, the blond was able to make out Woojin's frown.  
  
“Chan you need to change, too!”, Woojin then mumbled and Chan realized, that he hadn't moved an inch to rid himself of his own wet clothing.  
He nodded dazedly.  
  
“Go ahead, i'll follow in a second!”, he assured Woojin.  
  
The older seemed reluctant to leave him alone and Chan couldn't blame him.  
Even he felt reluctant to stay by himself.  
  
“You will be right behind me?”, Woojin asked and Chan nodded.  
  
“Promise!”, he added after a second of silence and that finally got Woojin going.  
  
As he disappeared up the stairs, Chan let out a deep exhale.  
  
He felt so tired. So unbelievably drained.  
  
An icy drop of water left the residence of his wet strands of hair and landed on the back of his neck, making him shiver and effectively putting him into motion.  
Forcing his numb muscles to move, Chan pulled his soaked pants and shoes off and replaced them with the new clothing.  
  
Immediately, a little spark of warmth returned to his frozen limbs.  
  
Ruffling his hair somewhat dry, Chan bundles his used clothes and slowly started heading up the stairs.  
  
The voices were still loud.  
  
_'You don't deserve this'!_  
  
He straightened his back, steeled his gaze.  
Now he would have to face the rest of the packs.  
Now he would have to reveal it all.  
  
The light of the main room got into his line of vision and Chan forced his scent to even out.  
He was pretty sure, that before, Woojin had smelled his distress in the air. But Woojin had already seen all of him anyways.  
  
Reaching the doorframe, Chan took in one more deep breath, before he stepped inside to face the consequences of his actions.  
  
_'You monster!'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still working on Changbin's past and on the Scene, that explains Minho's scar. I hope to finish it soon, but writing somehow takes a lot of effort from me at the Moment for some reason, so i'm begging ya'll for your Patience once more...sorry-.-
> 
> Also, i'm still sitting on some e´xtra Scenes, that i have already written! Those will be posted soon, once their setted time agrees with the one of the main book! I hope you will enjoy them!
> 
> I'm happy about any Kind of Feedback!! Feel free to empty your hearts and minds in the comment section! Requests are also open, although i might not fulfil every one!
> 
> Stay save! ;D


	6. #6: Seungmin & Hyunjin talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scene: Hyunjin and Seungmin talk about Hyunjin's scars and about Chan  
> Setting: the stream behind the apartment-Tower
> 
> WARNING!  
> mention of past eating/sleeping disorders + hinting of past abuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning!!!!
> 
> This is not edited!!!  
> Reading at your own risk!
> 
> I will probably edit it later on, but I’m too tired right now, so...enjoy it like that I guess:‘D

“You're going to the stream?”

Startled by the muttered words, Hyunjin turned his head towards a sleepy looking Seungmin, who was currently peeling himself out of Minho's and Jeongin's tight embrace.

“Minnie, why are you up already?”, he asked in confusion, tilting his head to the side a bit as he stopped tying the laces of his shoes for a second.  
It was extremely uncommon for the healer to be awake this early, especially after having taken over one of the watch-shifts.

Rubbing his sleep-drunk eyes, Seungmin stumbled over to his own pair of boots, slipping them on quickly before he reached out to his discarded sweater, that was lying beside them on the floor. 

“I wanna accompany you!”, he simply replied without really answering Hyunjin's question. 

The alpha secured his laces fully, before standing up again. 

“Sure, no problem!” 

Before, he had always wanted to be alone at the stream while washing himself, so no one would see the many scars on his arms and his torso, but now, that Seungmin had already seen them the day before, he didn't really mind anymore.  
A part of him still felt a little insecure, but nonetheless, he didn't let his doubt control his actions.

The two of them quietly snuck out of the main hall, Hyunjin being especially careful to not disturb his thankfully still asleep leader.  
Chan needed the rest more than anyone right now, except for maybe Jisung, who was still cuddled up to Minho's side, his chest rising and falling peacefully.

Only when Hyunjin pulled the main door close behind him and Seungmin, did he allow himself to move normally again.

The air was freezing cold and the approaching dawn was painting the whole clearing in a gray light, since clouds were covering the usually colorful sky. 

Nonetheless, Hyunjin didn't feel cold. He enjoyed the dropping temperatures greatly.

Seungmin on the other hand didn't look too pleased, the omega promptly pulling his head between his shoulders and his sweater tighter around himself.

“Fucking heavens, it's freezing out here!” 

Giggling slightly at his friend's reaction, Hyunjin started striding towards the soft gurgling of the stream. 

“You wanted to come along!”, he reminded bemusedly, shortening his steps a bit, until the still shivering Seungmin had caught up to him.  
The omega only huffed in response.

A comfortably silence settled between them, as they continued their way, and Hyunjin felt himself relax.  
Not that he had been stressed before, but nonetheless, his muscles lost a bit more of tension. 

As if his body was finally realizing, that nothing would happen to him, even though his mind had already known of that fact.

Dark and calm appeared the stream in front of them, as they finally reached the shore, both boys stumbling down the soft slope towards the edge of the water. 

Gravel scrunched beneath Hyunjin's soles, as he took a few steps to the left, where the old and washed out tree-trunk lay, perfect for him to store his clothes on.  
He could feel Seungmin's stare between his shoulder blades, hot and determined, when he started undressing himself, shrugging off his sweater first, before his shirt followed, leaving his torso bare.

A part of him would have liked to tell the healer to turn around, to avert his eyes, to just look a different direction, but Hyunjin kept his mouth shut. 

Jisung, Changbin and Chan knew about his scars and had seen them often already.  
He deemed it time to actually consider the other five boys of their group as part of his family as well.

When Hyunjin turned around again to face Seungmin, the omega's eyes met his - big and curious.  
There was no disgust, no pity, yet something, that Hyunjin dared to read as sympathy, and he slowly exhaled, forcing his twitching fingers to still. 

There was no need to worry! Seungmin wouldn't laugh at him or anything!  
Right?

“I've been meaning to ask you ever since yesterday...” 

Hyunjin knew, questions were unavoidable if something was related to Seungmin, so he was prepared for the younger's following words. 

“Where did you get your scars from?”

The healer's eyes were practically burning themselves into Hyunjin's and after just three seconds, the taller couldn't help but look away.  
Standing here, without a shirt and his arms covered it ugly red lines, some thicker and uneven, others thinner and more straight, he felt incredibly exposed. 

Nonetheless, he forced himself to swallow down his discomfort and answered.

“I grew up in a different pack, beside Chan's.” 

His arms came up to cross themselves over his chest, even his skin starting to form goosebumps now.  
Every high body temperature in the world couldn't keep up against the chilly winter air after being confronted with it for this long already.

Seungmin nodded, as he settled himself down on a small rock, his gaze not shifting from Hyunjin's face.

“I figured as much!”, he replied calmly.  
“And although I really want to know more, I wont ever force you to tell me anything, okay?”

Surprise flooded Hyunjin at those words and when he looked up, the omega opposite him was flashing him a quick smile.

“I still remember the last time I asked about your past!”, he explained softly.  
“I can gladly forget about any possible question I came up with about that topic, if it means, you will feel better.”

Warmth. 

Despite the coldness around him, Hyunjin felt so incredibly warm all of the sudden.  
As if someone had lit a fire within his heart, the flames now dancing high within him, increasing their heat with every breath he took. 

And when Hyunjin searched for Seungmin's warm gaze, he knew exactly, who that someone was, that had ignited his embers anew. 

“It was a pack, almost solely consisting of alphas!” 

The words blurted out of him without his approval, but he didn't mind it anymore.  
A part of him would have liked to thank Seungmin for his considerate gesture, but the other part knew, that he needed to let his mouth speak it's piece, before the courage within him would die out again, leaving him feeling sick and helpless in face of his past.

“I never met my parents but grew up with an omegean woman, who then joined the pack back then, because she thought, it would be safer than being alone!”

He didn't really remember the omega that had taken care of him until he was eight.  
Her face was just a blurry spot within his memories and the sound of her voice, as well as the smell of her scent had long faded away from his mind.  
Nonetheless he still felt somewhat grateful towards her.  
She surely hadn't been perfect, but she had never abused him, never let him starve, unless it was inevitable. 

“But it wasn't?” 

Seungmin's voice was gentle, yet coaxing, and somehow managed to calm Hyunjin enough for him to ready himself for the next part of his story.

“No, it somehow was, in a really weird way!”, he corrected quietly.  
“Getting food was easier within a big and strong pack, and we also didn't have to worry about hostile people anymore.” 

He trailed off a little, but shook his head in determination, when he felt himself getting lost within his memories, that were crossing his mind like dark clouds.  
Inhaling, he continued.

“But they didn't accept weakness!” 

Hyunjin swallowed once more.  
For some reason, his mouth felt incredibly dry, and the air around him even colder than before, as if it had frozen just like his fragile skin. 

But the fire within him was still burning. 

“They would suppress the ones weaker than them. The stronger you were within the pack, the higher your rank was. And the higher your rank, the more freedom you had to push the weaker ones around.”

When Hyunjin dared to throw a glance in Seungmin's direction, he was able to see the omega's widened eyes, that held sorrow, yet also something along the lines of understanding. 

“They did that to you, didn't they?” 

The healer's voice was unusually calm, when he gestured to Hyunjin's scars with a nod.  
Unusually, because when Hyunjin had first told Jisung, Changbin and Chan about his past, the three of them had sported entirely different reactions. 

All of them had been incredibly angry, Jisung even threatening to track his old pack down and make them pay.  
Only thanks to Chan hindering him, Jisung hadn't actually set off, or so it had looked to Hyunjin back then. 

He nodded at Seungmin's question.

“I'm sorry you had to spent your childhood at such a place!” 

Rising to his feet, Seungmin slowly came closer, until he was right in front of Hyunjin, close enough for the alpha to be able to properly examine the mole on the boy's cheek and the slightly messy brown locks, that hung into his forehead. 

“I know my way around pack-dynamics like that!”, the healer went on, his warm breath fanning Hyunjin's cheek lightly. 

“Because me and Woojin have been a part of one, too! So if you ever feel the need to talk about this with someone...”, Seungmin gave a soft smile. “feel free to come to either of us! Any time!”

Higher and higher burned the flames of the fire within Hyunjin's heart and he got warmer and warmer. 

And finally, he realized, what it was, that melted the ice around him and made the corners of his lips tug upwards as well, mirroring the smile Seungmin was showing him. 

It was trust.  
Pure, warm, gentle trust, a feeling he had deemed lost for himself. 

He trusted Seungmin.  
He trusted Woojin.  
He trusted them. 

Finally, after over one year, this pack from the apartment-tower had managed to tear his walls down again.

“Thank you!” 

His words were mere whispers, but Seungmin heard them, the boy's eyes turning into happy crescents. 

But only a moment later, the healer's expression morphed into something more serious, lips pressing together. 

Stepping back a bit and out of Hyunjin's personal space, the omega wrapped his arms tightly around his own form once more.

“Now hurry and take your freaking bath, or else you guys wont have a doctor among you anymore!”

Hyunjin couldn't help the giggle that escaped him at the boy's words.  
Despite everything, he felt relief bloom within his chest at the change of topic. 

His past was something he'd rather forget and not talk about ever again.

“Sure thing!” 

Kicking off his boots, Hyunjin rid himself of is pants as well before starting to wade into the stream. 

The pebbles beneath his feet dug into his soles painfully, but as soon as the water was able to nip at his skin, all that was forgotten.  
By now, Hyunjin had deemed himself used to cold baths, but for some reason, they always managed to catch him off guard and knock the breath out of his lungs nonetheless.

Gasping, he went in deeper before starting to scrub down his skin. 

“You sure, you don't want to take a bath yourself?”, he threw back over his shoulder, in hopes, that talking to Seungmin would distract him a bit from the biting cold, that was starting to invade his limbs, numbing his toes and fingers.

“Pretty sure, I'm good!” 

Seungmin sounded slightly bemused. 

“Do I have to worry about you fainting though?”

“I don't know!”, Hyunjin gave back jokingly, his voice trembling slightly because of his clattering teeth.  
“Would you come in to save me?”

This time it was Seungmin's turn to giggle. 

“Nah, I ain't sticking one toe into this stream!”, the omega retorted, as Hyunjin let himself sink deeper into the cold water, his stomach constricting at the contact.

“Good to know!”, he pressed out in mock sulkiness, before he forced his heaving lungs to take in another deep breath and dunked his own head under water. 

For a short moment, the alpha dared to question his former words, when black dots started dancing along the edges of his blurred vision, his senses filled with nothing but the rushing of water.  
Then, his head broke back through the surface, and the world started moving again. 

Quickly, he began ruffling his hair to wash it properly.

“You good, Hyunjin?” 

Seungmin's tone had a concerned edge to it that made the alpha smile once more.  
Deeming himself clean enough, he turned around and waded out of the freezing water, shooting the healer beside him a reassuring look. 

“All good, don't worry!”, he added before shaking his body a little to get rid of any excess water, that was running down his skin in tiny droplets.  
Then he grabbed his sweater and started scrubbing his body dry, the chafe of the clothing against his skin dispelling the last bits of coldness.

There was a short silence, but even before it got broken, Hyunjin was able to detect Seungmin's urging thoughts that were almost loud enough for him to listen in on them.

“Say, Hyunjin...”, the healer eventually began, sounding a little unsure. 

Throwing a quick smile into the omega's direction to show him, that he was listening, Hyunjin reached for his pants and started dressing again.  
After a moment, Seungmin went on.

“Did the incident with Keir affect Chan a lot?”

The question let Hyunjin's movements freeze.  
He probably should have expected Seungmin asking about Keir once more, but for some reason, he hadn't. 

Which was, why the words hit him even harder, forcing him to stay silent for a few seconds, until he had caught himself again, his racing heart back to beating at a normal pace.  
Only then was he able to focus on Seungmin's question. 

Had it affected Chan, what had happened between him and Keir?

“Yes it did!” 

His voice was firm, as he answered, his gaze even going back up to meet the one of the healer. 

He still remembered the time after the incident clearly.  
How broken their world had been.  
How suddenly, shadows hadn't been just shadows anymore and the cries of the owls at night not just nocturnal birds on the hunt. 

From one moment to the other, it had seemed as if every light had been stolen from them, leaving them in total darkness.

“How?” 

Seungmin sounded timid, as if he wasn't sure, how far he was allowed to go with his questions, until he would overstep some boundaries. 

But the fire of trust was still flickering within Hyunjin.  
And there were things he remembered, that had been locked up within him for far too long.  
So he went on without hesitation.

“He stopped sleeping right after!” 

That had been the first thing to happen. 

Chan staying up for days without resting even once.  
If he hadn't been busy taking care of Jisung or soothing him and Changbin, their leader had been staring into the distance, his eyes so dark and so far away, that Hyunjin had never been sure of how to get him back. 

Even after days without sleep, Chan hadn't closed his eyes, the bags under them getting darker and darker, his body growing more and more exhausted, until the blond would finally collapse, fainting and getting a few hours of sleep, until he would snap back to consciousness, screaming and sweating because of another nightmare haunting his dreams. 

It was a doomloop that Hyunjin had found himself unable to break, no matter how much he had wanted to.

“Altogether?” 

Seungmin sounded disbelieving.

Hyunjin nodded. 

“Altogether!”, he repeated.  
“After that, he stopped eating.”

That had been the second sign to show Chan's inner trouble, despite his reassuring smiles and calming gestures. 

Hyunjin and Changbin had had to watch back then, how Chan got thinner and thinner, along with Jisung.  
When the omega would eat a bit, so would Chan, but other than that, he refrained from even touching food. 

How often had Hyunjin heard the phrase 'I'm not hungry!' back then?  
Far too often! 

And the fact, that Chan had been unable to fully help with the hunts, had made matters even worse.

“He...”  
Hyunjin struggled a little to get his words out due to his once again trembling voice, although this time, it wasn't the cold's fault. 

“He wasn't able to touch a knife again!”

A slight frown appeared on Seungmin's face and Hyunjin used the soft furrow within the other boy's brows to ground himself again and focus on the difference between past and presence. 

“What do you mean with that?”

“Just that!” 

Hyunjin cleared his throat, when his voice came out crooked. 

“He got sick as soon as he touched a knife, so he couldn't help me and Binnie with the hunts.”

Chan had tried.  
Many timed to be precise. 

Again and again he had taken their hunting knife into his hand, had tried to support them.  
But each try had ended in Chan throwing up the last bits of energy he had had within his body, eventually forcing Changbin and Hyunjin to forbid their leader to keep trying, until he had gathered some strength again. 

“But he helps with the hunts now, doesn't he?”, Seungmin asked, slightly confused with the matter. 

Hyunjin nodded, finally ripping himself out of his motionless state, as soon as he realized, that he was still only wearing his pants halfway.  
Quickly he fully pulled them on.

“It took a while, months, until he got a little better!”, he explained quietly, his eyes averting to look at the healer opposite him. 

Instead, Hyunjin grabbed his already damp sweater and discarded shirt and walked over to the water again, crouching down in front of it to wash his used clothes. 

“He started eating a little more again, started to at least assist us during hunts, even though he still couldn't touch our knife and often had to throw up after watching me or Changbin perform the kill.” 

A bitter grimace pulled Hyunjin's lips into a line. 

“He even forced himself to sleep every other day!”, he added silently.  
“Although his nightmares were almost as frequent as Jisung's!”

Only now, after he had been scrubbing his shirt and sweater for a while already, did Hyunjin realize, that he had forgotten to dry his hair beforehand, big blobs of water dripping onto his face and into his eyes at that moment.  
Messily, he ranked a hand through his soaked bangs, carding them out of his vision, before he reached for his clothes again, wringing them out properly. 

Silence was engulfing him despite Seungmin's presence, and when Hyunjin finally rose to his feet again and turned back around, the healer looked like he was at a loss for words, unable to say anything.  
But when the alpha stepped closer, loose gravel poking his feet, the boy seemingly caught himself again.

“I...,” 

Seungmin visibly swallowed, gaze cast to the ground. 

“I was really angry at first! When Chan told us about him having killed Keir, my first reaction was disbelief. And anger.” 

Hyunjin wanted to say something, defend Chan, but he forced himself to keep quiet.  
First of all, because Seungmin had every right to feel that way and second, because the boy wasn't done talking yet, as far as the taller could tell.  
And true to his assumption, Seungmin went on.

“I watched a lot of people kill others for the sole purpose of power back in the pack of mine and Woojin's parents!”, he confessed.  
“And it always made me sick to the core, so much, that I swore to myself, that I would never do it myself and never tolerate someone else doing it! But the more I hear about Chan's reason...” 

The healer trailed off, his voice getting smaller and smaller.  
By now, the boy almost sounded vulnerable, his believes having gotten messed up.

“It doesn't really disgust me anymore!”, Seungmin finally choked out.  
“Everything I hear about that guy makes me hate him more and more! And I know, killing is still wrong! But I can't look at it that way in this situation! No matter how much I want to!”

Hyunjin's grip around his soaked clothes tightened.  
There was fear bubbling within him, that Seungmin could hate him for his next few words, but he felt the need to say them nonetheless.

“I don't care anymore!” 

Seungmin looked up at that, eyes widened slightly. 

Hyunjin's voice sounded way more convinced, than he felt, as he continued. 

“Maybe it was wrong of Chan-hyung to kill Keir. But after what he did to Sungie, what he did to Nesrin, what he did to all those other omegas he might have killed and after what his actions caused my own pack to go through...” 

Hyunjin took in a quivering inhale to calm himself, his tone having begun to waver due to long suppressed anger. 

“...I can't bring myself to feel guilty or sorry for his death!”

A few seconds passed by again, within which Seungmin only stared at him. 

Hyunjin could feel his own chest rising and falling from his previous rapid words, combined with his anxiety about what the healer would think about him now.  
But he didn't break the eye-contact.

Finally, after what felt like forever to Hyunjin, Seungmin gave a curt nod. 

“I respect that!”, he replied quietly.  
“And although I wish it was different, I cant help but second your opinion!”

Exhaling, Hyunjin gave a soft smile. 

“Can we let the past rest then?”, he asked. 

He was so tired of all this to be honest.  
Even though letting out all those bottled up and hidden away feelings had felt relieving, it was incredibly exhausting to dig through the same shit again and again.

After a short moment of hesitation, Seungmin returned his smile. 

“Alright!”, the healer simply answered.  
“Now let's get back before I'll actually freeze to death! Or you catch a cold!”

Laughing, Hyunjin bowed down to slip his frozen feet back into his boots. 

“No objections from my side!”, he agreed, Seungmin immediately doing a 180 and striding back towards the apartment-tower. 

Their home.

Hyunjin trailed after him with a slight smile on his lips.  
Because even though his skin felt close to breaking because of the cold, the fire within him was still burning hot and bright. 

The darkness from that day over one year ago had vanished.  
He was able to look ahead again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this, like, forever-ago and was just waiting for me to reach the 29th chapter in the main book to be able to post this scene here!
> 
> Hope, you guys liked it!
> 
> Stay save!
> 
> P.S. I will soon post some extra scenes, that are void of any angst! Just to lighten up the mood a bit!
> 
> I hope you will like those scenes as well!:)


	7. #7: Chan can't growl!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setting: the apartment-Tower; some evening at the end of winter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I alway found it hilarious, that Channie gan't pronounce 'Grrr' (Beware) properly and i just couldn't resist writing a Scene about it!;)
> 
> Enjoy!

“Oh, me! I know another one!”

Jisung's hand shot up eagerly and Woojin couldn't contain his grin. 

They had been sitting around the campfire like every evening, but at some point after dinner, Jeongin and Felix had gotten bored.   
To entertain themselves and everyone else around, the two little devils – how Woojin was ready to call them by now – had started to blurt out random facts about their packmates. 

Some were harmless such as the one, that Seungmin could only sleep with a blanket.   
Others were downright embarrassing.

For example, Woojin really wouldn't have needed the other pack to know, that his scent almost exploded with territorial intent when someone dared to touch his beloved jacket.  
Although he had appreciated the way it made Chan's eyes light up and Hyunjin giggle.

In exchange for the information, Changbin and Hyunjin had begun to state facts about their friends as well and Jisung had been the main victim of their attacks. 

After that, the young omega had decided to pay them back in kind and since Jisung apparently held all knowledge about anyone within this building, Woojin had been able to get a few good laughs already. 

Now, however, Changbin let out a groan as he rose to his feet. 

“You embarrassed us enough at it is!”, he whined while making an attempt to leap at Jisung to shut him up.   
The younger, however, giggled as he raised his arms in defense.

“It's not about you!”, he assured quickly.   
“It's about Channie-hyung!”

As Changbin plopped back down with a grin spreading on his face as well, Chan shot up from beside Hyunjin, eyes widened.

“What did I ever do to you?”, he gasped in mock offense and Jisung pouted.

“You laughed along when they told the story of how a fell over that fence once!”, he grumbled and Woojin saw Chan press his lips together in the futile attempt to hide his amusement.

“Well, you gotta admit, that was funny!”, Chan tried to reason, but Jisung brushed him off with a wink of his hand.

“The betrayal!”, the omega huffed dramatically, before he snickered again.   
“You shall feel the same as I did!”

“Which one are we talking about here?”, Changbin chimed in from the side, apparently content with the fact, that it wouldn't be information about him, that was about to be sported.

Shooting him, what Woojin assumed was meant to be a wink – even if Jisung closed both of his eyes – the omega flashed another grin.

“The one about his growl!”

While Changbin beamed in delight, Chan's face contorted in horror.

“Oh no, you won't!”, the blond gasped as he scrambled to his feet, but Jisung had already jumped up to be able to flee from him. 

Running around their circle to hide behind Woojin, Jisung giggled happily.

“You know,”, he started but had to stop shortly to escape from Chan again, who started chasing his younger friend with the intention to shut him up.

“Lino, help me!”, Jisung gasped out after the fifth round around the campfire, but Minho only shrugged. 

“I'm having fun, so I don't see a reason, why I should move right now and possibly endanger myself by catching Chan-hyung's wrath.”, the alpha replied with an evil smirk and Jisung flicked his head while sprinting past him, Chan still right at his heels.

“Remind me, why I trust you again?”, Jisung heaved, followed by a startled shriek, when Chan somehow accelerated his tempo even more, catching up to him a bit.

“Woojin-hyung! Save me from him and I'll tell you the thing about Chan!”, Jisung eventually gasped out and Woojin grinned.

“A tempting offer!”, he agreed, slowly rising to his feet.   
“Will the information be worth it though?”

Again, Jisung flew past him.   
Woojin wasn't sure anymore, which round this was by now. 

He had stopped counting but if he had to guess, it would add up to at least twenty.

“It's definitely worth it, I promise!”, Jisung wheezed during round number twenty-one.

“It better be!”, Woojin warned him, before taking action.

When Jisung and Chan passed him again – round number twenty-two - he jumped forward and closed his arms around Chan with determination.   
The blond's momentum almost swept the both of them off their feet, but Woojin managed to balance them out.

Slowing to a stop, now that the danger of getting strangled was banned, Jisung supported himself on his thighs while trying to catch his breath.

“That was close!”, he wheezed, eliciting a grin from Woojin.

He was still holding tightly onto Chan and he would be lying, if he would say, that he didn't enjoy the blond's warmth against his own body.   
Now, Chan let out a huff. 

“This is not fair!”, he complained while slightly struggling against Woojin's grip.   
His locks tickled Woojin's chin with the movement.

“Sungie, what happened to years of friendship?”

Jisung, who finally had recovered from his panting, pointedly crossed his arms.

“You were ready to end those years of friendship through homicide, so don't come at me with that now!”, he fake-huffed.

“I demand my payment!”, Woojin cut into their conversation.   
He had partly helped Jisung only to be able to catch Chan, but he was also curious about the information the omega was holding back.

“Come on!”, Chan whined from his spot in Woojin's hold, but other than a little squirming, he didn't really make any serious attempts to break free. 

Since his scent was still calm as well, Woojin settled for believing, that the blond was at ease, even with their current position and level of skinship.

“Right!”, Jisung smirked.   
“There is something about him, that you should know!”

He paused for dramatic effect before adding: “Channie-hyung can't growl!”

Shortly it was quiet and Chan even stopped his faint movements.

Woojin frowned.

“But I heard him growl before?”, he replied in confusion.   
“Why shouldn't he be able to growl?”

“He can only growl on instinct sometimes but not on purpose!”, Changbin now chimed in from the side with Hyunjin giggling along to his words. 

Seungmin, whose expression had been concentrated for the past few seconds, nodded as something dawned on his face.

“Probably courtesy of his lack of an inner wolf!”, the healer stated while snapping his fingers.   
“Normal humans before the war couldn't really growl either, if I'm correct. At least not in the way we can!”

Focusing back on Chan, that was still caught in his arms, Woojin raised one eyebrow, although he knew, the blond was unable to see his face at the moment.

“Is that true?”

Chan visibly deflated in his hold.

“So what if it is?”, he huffed back and when Woojin leaned a bit to the side to be able to look at Chan's profile, he caught sight of the blond's slightly flushed cheeks, creating a heavy contrast to his usually pale appearance.

A grin spread Woojin's lips apart.

“Can you try?”, he asked. 

It was hard for him to believe, that the guy, who had growled at him so loudly once, that Woojin's inner wolf had growled back in instinct, was unable to do it again at will.

“Oh yeah, please do!”, Changbin pleaded too with a snicker, his eyes twinkling mischievously.   
“Your normal growls always sound so tiny!”

“Very funny!”, Chan deadpanned, and Woojin could almost sense him rolling his eyes.  
“I'm not gonna growl now!”

A movement caught Woojin's attention, and he looked over to Jisung, who was continuously fake-baring his teeth at Woojin again and again while pointing at his mouth.   
Finally, the alpha understood.

While Chan was still busy arguing with Changbin, Woojin carefully leaned forward until his face was right beside Chan's ear.   
Then he inhaled and gave the lowest growl he could manage.

The guttural sound vibrated through his chest and Chan let out a surprised yelp, followed by an instinctive growl before he elbowed Woojin hard enough for the older to let him go.  
Leaping forward he turned back towards Woojin.

The alpha still felt the sore spot, where Chan's elbow had collided with his ribs, but that didn't prevent his laughter from slipping out.

“Yah!”, Chan exclaimed in offense while sheepishly rubbing his left ear.   
“That was not necessary!”

Wheezing, Woojin bend over from laughter.

“I'm sorry, Chan!”, he apologized without much honesty.   
“But your reaction was hilarious!”

“That was not his normal growl though!”, Hyunjin commented between giggles.   
He was leaning on Seungmin by now, similar to a grinning Jeongin.   
Felix was already gone from sight, rolling around on the floor during one of his laughing fits.

Jisung, who had sat down beside Minho, nodded in confirmation.

“He normally just does this 'rrrrr'-sound!”, he confirmed before looking up to Chan with big eyes.

“Can't you do it once, hyung!”, he pleaded and Woojin knew, the omega's puppy-stare had won, when Chan sighed in defeat.

“Just this once, and then we never talk about this again!”, the blond warned and Woojin forced his own laughter down to wait in anticipation.

Chan took in a deep breath.   
His eyes narrowed slightly, almost making him look intimidating, but when the blond bared his teeth to growl, not the familiar deep sound rolled over his lips but something much...cuter! 

Jisung had been right!  
It sounded as if Chan was simply attempting to roll the 'R' in his throat. 

A failed attempt to top it off!

Woojin tried to contain his amusement, he really did, but when even Minho started cackling, along with everyone else in the room, he couldn't hold back his laughter any longer either.  
The entire group was wheezing, save for Chan, who crossed his arms in defense. 

“I am so not doing that ever again!”, he swore in a peeved tone, that only made Woojin laugh harder. 

Close to tears, he didn't really think about it, as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the sulky blond once more.

“I'm so sorry, Channie, but that bordered on adorable!”, he pressed out, before loosing himself in another seizure, his body almost hanging off Chan's by now. 

The blond kept up his disgruntled expression for a moment longer, before finally, his mask crumbled as well and got replaced by a wide grin that showed off his dimples.

“I officially hate each and every one of you!”, he stated in a solemn voice but nonetheless, he didn't push Woojin away but remained in his embrace.

After minutes filled with non-seizing laughter, the group finally calmed down again.

Carefully, Woojin straightened his bend over posture a bit again to relieve Chan of his weight.   
Nonetheless, he didn't let go of the blond. 

Chan still hadn't shown any kind of dislike or repulsion towards the way their bodies were pressed up against each other and Woojin intended to let the moment last as long as possible.   
His inner wolf was the most content it had been in weeks and the warmth seeping into his side from Chan's body was like soothing honey to his seemingly raw insides.

“Are all of you done now?”

Chan still had his arms crossed, but the sparkle in his eyes was a friendly one that showed Woojin, that the blond was anything but exasperated.   
Chan simply was that kind of good-natured.

“No, actually, can you do that one more time?”, Minho asked slyly, a smug grin plastered in his face.   
“I haven't had such a good laugh in ages!”

Jisung snickered from beside him and Woojin saw Seungmin fighting a smirk as well.

Chan only sighed in mock despair.

“Wooj, I swear, if you start being mean to me as well...!”, he threatened, his head turning a bit to look at Woojin, who could feel his heart speeding up at the blond's gaze.

Squeezing Chan's shoulder lightly, where he had wrapped his arm around the leader, Woojin grinned at the blond.

“Then what?”, he dared Chan to finish his previous sentence.   
“What are you gonna do, Channie?”

Chan narrowed his eyes a bit at him and Woojin's chest filled with warm flutters.   
Just as warm as Chan against him.   
Woojin wanted to never let his leader go again.

Giving up, Chan groaned slightly, as he let his head flop backwards.   
It landed on Woojin's arm and multiple seizures sent sparks of electricity through Woojin's entire body, while at the same time, he felt paralyzed.

“I really would like to growl at you right now!”, Chan commented in a peeved tone.   
“But since we all know, how that is gonna end, and I refuse to be the subject of your entertainment again, I'm gonna ignore all of you and keep my honor that way!”

“You kind of left that behind already when you purred the first time!”, Minho exclaimed.   
His statement caused another wave of giggles and even Woojin couldn't suppress a snicker.

Chan turned his head towards him without lifting it off Woojin's arm and sent him an accusatory look.

“I really thought, at least you would be on my side in this!”, he grumbled, but again, his bright eyes were deceiving his grumpy demeanor.  
Flashing Chan another grin, Woojin shrugged.

“I'm totally on your side, Channie!”

“You are so not, you traitor!”, Chan huffed with a small smile. 

His scent was engulfing Woojin and sent a pleasant shiver down his spine, that only strengthened, when Chan's blond locks brushed his neck, as the leader faced away from him again to observe the still cackling group in front of them. 

“I am! Right beside you!”, Woojin assured one last time with a squeeze to Chan's arm.   
He snickered when Chan threw him another dry glare, one of the blond's eyebrows raised.

Their moment was interrupted, when Seungmin suddenly spoke up.

“If anyone is interested, I think I have another good one!”

The whole group stilled to look at the healer and Woojin felt his own smile fall of his face, when he noticed Seungmin's devilish grin.   
His brother was directly looking at him.

“About whom?”, Jeongin asked nervously, but Woojin already knew, that the younger alpha had nothing to fear.

“About Woojin-hyung!”, Seungmin confirmed his premonition.

“Ohhh, I think I know, what you mean!”, Minho chimed in with an equally evil smile. 

Maybe, now was the time for Woojin to shut his two lovely dongsaengs up.

Although his inner wolf was mourning it greatly, Woojin unwrapped his arm from Chan. 

“And that is the point, where we are gonna wrap this up!”, he threatened, eyes set on a still smirking Seungmin.   
“Minnie, Minho, if I get my hands on you...!”

His strive to save his dignity was stopped, when strong arms wrapped around his middle from behind and kept him in place.   
Surprised he threw Chan a glance over his shoulder.   
Normally the blond wasn't that quick to initiate skinship himself. 

Chan's dimples beamed back at him, combined with mischievously shining black eyes.

“Nuh uh!”, the blond commented sweetly, his ribcage vibrating against Woojin's back.   
It felt so pleasantly warm.

“You are not going anywhere! I wanna hear what they have to say!”

“Think you can hold me back?”, Woojin asked mockingly. 

Chan only grinned.

“Oh yes, I think I can!”, he replied. 

The next moment, his arms were pressing Woojin's body even closer back against his chest. 

And Woojin knew, that even, if he could have escaped Chan's grip, he wouldn't.   
He wouldn't give up this hug for anything in the world. 

Not even for Seungmin embarrassing him in front of everyone!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This had to be done! 
> 
> I know, it was short, but i just couldn't help myself!  
> There will be another Woochan Scene later, if my Computer allows me to update in the evening!
> 
> Stay save everyone and feel free to leave any Kind of comments!:)


	8. #8: Chan gives Woojin is necklace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setting: the stairs in front of the apartment-Tower; two days before the departure of Chan's group

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! MOST INTENSE WOOCHAN SCENE RIGHT AHEAD!!!
> 
> It's still harmlessly fluffy tho!

Silver shone the rays of moonlight as they lit up the entire clearing in front of Woojin.  
Carefully, he pushed the door open wider to be able to slip outside himself and bath in the cool atmosphere for a moment, before his gaze fell on the dark figure in front of him. 

Chan had settled down on the stairs in front of the building, gaze directed at the round body of the full moon above them.  
The leader's blond hair was shining under the soft lightning and combined with his pale appearance, it gave him a surreal aura, that managed to let Woojin's heart beat faster. 

Taking a few steps to bridge the distance between himself and the other boy, Woojin quietly lowered himself onto the spot right beside Chan, so close that their knees almost touched.  
It was something, that Woojin had started to crave even more.  
  
Close proximity and skinship.

Every time, Woojin was near Chan, he felt his inner wolf starting to stir.  
It wasn't as wild and untamable as he had grown used to expect from the few times his inner wolf normally rose.  
No, with Chan, it was soft and longing, almost as if his inner wolf was lonely and yearned for the blond's presence.

Although inside his chest, Woojin felt the persistent tug on his heart, he ignored the urge to scoot even closer towards Chan to leave the other enough space.

“What are you thinking about?”, he eventually broke the peaceful silence around them, that was filled with the sounds of the night nonetheless.

Chan, who had been staring at the sky until now, flashed Woojin a quick dimpled smile.

“About the journey!”, he answered honestly, his voice equally low as Woojin's.  
“About, what is going to await us and what is going to happen!”

Humming, Woojin, too, set his gaze on the dark nightsky.  
Courtesy of the brightness of the moon, not too many stars were visible tonight, but a few were still blinking on all on their own.

If Woojin was earnest, he didn't want to think about the other group's departure.  
He didn't want to think about them leaving, them being away.

And he didn't want to think about Chan disappearing from his side.

A sudden fear grasped his heart with sharp claws and squeezed it painfully hard.  
Driven by the growing urge for closure, Woojin hastily turned towards Chan, who threw him a questioning glance upon Woojin's abrupt movement.

“Wooj?”, he asked, his eyes big, and Woojin's heart clenched even more.  
Chan had begun calling him by that nickname a few weeks ago and Woojin loved it every single time, Chan used this new title for him. 

Like Jisung only called Minho 'Lino' Woojin dared to hope, that Chan's nickname for him displayed an equal amount of intimacy.

“Promise me, you will come back safely!”, he whispered out, his eyes locked with Chan's black orbs.  
“Promise me, nothing will happen!”

Gaze darkening, Chan returned Woojin's intense stare.

“I promise you, I won't let anything happen to any of them!”, he swore insistently.  
“I will bring all of them back safely! Minho and Jeongin and Jisung and Hyunjin! You will see all of them again at the end of summer! I promise!”

Woojin wanted to laugh and cry at the same time at Chan's naive stupidity.  
Somehow, whenever Chan was confronted with affection, the blond didn't seem to recognize it.  
As if he would in no way ever let himself believe, that something like love could be directed at _him_.

Exhaling, Woojin reached out to catch Chan's hand in his.  
The blond's eyes widened upon the touch. 

Properly turning his body towards Chan, Woojin finally gave in to the tug inside of his chest and allowed himself to scoot even closer towards Chan. 

It was risky.

He had no idea, whether the blond would be comfortable with that level of skinship.  
But Chan had enough space to scoot away from him and was strong enough to tell Woojin off. 

So when Chan stayed in his spot, big eyes still locked with Woojin's and body pressed up against the alpha's without moving, Woojin allowed himself to believe, that Chan was okay, with how they were right now.

Again, Woojin let the breath he had been holding escape his lungs in a quivering gush of air.

“I'm not talking about the other's right now, Chan!”, he then mumbled.  
“I'm not talking about Minho or Jeongin or Jisung or Hyunjin!”

His hand, that wasn't holding onto Chan's, slowly found its way up the blond's other arm, sliding over the fabric of Chan's shirt until Woojin's fingers reached the collar of the clothing, where he hesitated.

Inside of him, his inner wolf had stilled, but in exchange, Woojin felt his heart beating so fast, as if it was intending to jump out of his chest.  
A part of him expected Chan to snap at any moment, to push him off and knock his hand away.

Woojin almost readied himself for the blow rejection would bring him, inwardly prepared for the despair his inner wolf would get thrown into.  
But nothing happened. 

Chan just continued staring at him with those black eyes of his, his curls partly hanging into his forehead and his plush lips slightly parted.  
There was confusion and surprise visible on his expression and Woojin wanted to laugh.  
But no sound left his lips.

Instead, he allowed his fingers to pass the edge of Chan's collar and finally brush over the blond's bare skin, while he let them slide higher. 

“I'm not talking about any of them!”, Woojin repeated quietly, as his eyes scanned Chan's features. 

There was so much warmth inside his chest, burning his poor heart like a raging fire.  
But despite the hungry flames, not a single torch mark damaged his insides. 

Sighing, Woojin allowed his inner wolf to voice his feelings.

“I'm talking about you!”

Voice getting a little more desperate, he imagined Chan not returning.  
What would Woojin do, if Chan gave his life on this journey? 

His tone was shaky, when Woojin went on.

“I want YOU to come back safely! I want you to promise me, that YOU will come back here!”

After a moment of short hesitation, Woojin concludingly muttered: “Back to me!”

Chan inhaled softly, the movements of his chest becoming faster, when Woojin let his fingers trace the shadows of the blond's collar bones before heading into the direction of Chan's scentglans.

Woojin had never really asked, therefore he had no idea, whether Chan's scentglans were structured the same way, his own were.  
Were they just as sensitive? Would Chan's scent increase as well, if he touched them?

Would Chan even allow him to touch them?

The scentglans were a pretty intimate spot, because they were so fragile.  
One wrong movement could damage them forever and therefore, allowing someone to touch them was combined with ultimate trust.

Woojin had no idea, whether Chan would bestow him with such honor.

His thoughts were broken off, when his fingers were stopped by Chan's necklace.  
The thin necklace the blond had worn from the first day on, that Woojin had met him.  
Not once, Chan had taken it off and Woojin had even forgot about it because he was so used to seeing it.

He wanted to take it off! He wanted to take it off so badly!

And suddenly it was gone.

With a low clicking noise, the necklace released Chan's throat, only to fall into the blond's awaitingly outstretched hand. 

Caught by surprise, Woojin stilled his hand, the tips of his fingers still pressed against Chan's skin, only mere millimeters below the blond's scentgland.

Avoiding his gaze for a moment, Chan pulled his and Woojin's locked hands up and untangled their fingers to push the necklace into Woojin's palm.

“I got this necklace as a present once,”, he explained quietly, his voice hoarse. “for a favor I had done for a pack. The pack that lives south from here!”

Clearing his throat, Chan carefully closed Woojin's fingers around the piece of jewelry.  
It was still slightly warm.

“If you ever need help, while I am gone, just take this necklace to Jaebum, along with Changbin. Their pack will grant you the help you need as the favor they owe me!”

Chan slowly looked back up and when his gaze met Woojin's, the older felt his heartbeat speeding up once more, a fluttering feeling invading his chest.  
Combined with the never ending warmth, it felt weirdly exhilarating.

Chan's eyes left his again to stray around in an almost nervous manner, before he added: “And it's also my promise to you, that I will do everything in my power to return back here as well – safely!”

Then, with one gaze thrown at Woojin again, he tilted his head slightly.  
It was no more than the fraction of a real movement, the tiniest motion upwards with Chan's chin, but Woojin noticed it.  
And he knew exactly what it meant!

Chan had given him permission!

Chan trusted him – completely without compromises!

Woojin's breath hitched just like Chan's, when he allowed his fingertips to trail up even higher, along the blond's veins.  
When they finally brushed over Chan's scentgland, a full-blown shudder rocked the boy's body, followed by a low gasp.

Like a soft cloud, Chan's scent enveloped Woojin almost immediately.  
It was stronger than normally, and had an unusually sweet hint to it but at the same time, it was as intense and comforting as ever.

Woojin relished in the feeling of the smell embracing him.

Nonetheless, he kept moving his hand, sliding it up to trace Chan's jawline up to his ear, until he was able to cup his cheek.

A broken noise erupted from the back of Chan's throat before the blond leaned into Woojin's touch.  
The leader's black eyes still held traces of insecurity and confusion, as if he was unsure, whether Woojin's display of affection was really directed at him.

It made Woojin want to smile and cry at the same time.  
Chan deserved the world in his eyes.

But it was okay.  
Woojin would make sure to take his time to get that message across to Chan.

“You will all come back together and without any stab-wounds, got it!”, Woojin mumbled quietly, as his thumb brushed over Chan's cheek.  
“By the heavens, Chan I'm warning you! Don't you dare break this promise of yours!”

A smile tugged on the corners of Chan's lips and let his dimple reappear.

“Don't worry, I always keep my promises!”, he assured with a light chuckle, that did things to Woojin's heart he couldn't quite explain.

Then Chan's smile broadened into a grin.

“Although I'm not sure, whether I really should promise to keep Jisung save. That guy might just be stupid enough to make me break it involuntarily!”

Sighing in mock despair, Woojin let his hand fall down to Chan's shoulder again, while he rolled his eyes.

“Just let Minho take care of him and you take care of yourself, alright?”, he ordered sternly but with a smile on his lips.  
“That way, everyone is taken into consideration!”

Then he raised his left hand to stare at the necklace within it.

“Do you think, I will be able to wear it?”, he questioned doubtfully.  
His neck was much thicker than Chan's.

Also shaking his head, Chan frowned. 

“Pretty sure, you will have to find a different way!”, he gave back in an almost apologetic tone, before a smirk settled on his face.  
“Maybe it fit's around your biceps though...”

“Yah!”

Not being able to suppress his own grin, Woojin playfully smacked Chan's shoulder, the blond only snorting in reply.

“I'll find a way!”, Woojin decided as he closed his fist around the necklace again in the fear of letting it slip through his fingers.  
He would never let that happen! Not with the necklace and not with Chan!

When Chan raised his gaze to look at the bright moon once more, Woojin leaned sideways to press his entire body against the leader's.  
Additionally, he let his head drop onto the blond's shoulder and buried his nose in Chan's neck, right beneath the boy's scentgland.

Again, Chan shivered and let out a grumble.

“Wooj, sensitive!”, he rasped out, his voice apparently back to being hoarse.  
Woojin wondered, whether that would happen every time he would come in contact with Chan's neck.  
He wouldn't mind it.

In that moment, gentle fingers brushed over Woojin's own scentgland and he had to work hard to suppress the gasp that wanted to force his lips apart.  
The grunt that escaped him instead, he was unable to hold back. 

The touch was intimate but Woojin didn't mind it in the least, but rather relished in the feeling.  
It was unusual, that Chan was straightforward enough to return Woojin's own eager affection in equal amounts.  
Normally, the blond was more timid, more subtle with his ways. 

Something Woojin's inner wolf wasn't always completely satisfied with.

“I guess, I'm not the only one then!”, sounded Chan's bemused voice from beside him and Woojin couldn't help but smile.

“Guess so!”, he mumbled back.  
“But anything else would be unfair, now wouldn't it?”

Chan chuckled softly and the movement rocked Woojin's body a bit as well.

“True that!”, the blond muttered quietly.

Closing his eyes, Woojin took in a deep breath.  
The air filling his lungs was heavy of his and Chan's scents and Woojin felt his inner wolf settle down contently.

Chan would return! He knew it!

And their groups would mold right back together, once the other group would join them again at the end of summer.  
Because by now, it wasn't two packs anymore.

But one whole!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go!
> 
> Originally i didn't plan on making the woochan-ship that prominent but here we are anyways...
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the Scene nonetheless!:)
> 
> Stay save everyone!


	9. #9: Minsung encounter foreign object

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setting: Chan's Group during her journey towards the mountains; old Group of buildings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy this humor-chapter i wrote after dreaming of my own book (obnoxious much? yes, i'm Aware;))
> 
> Have fun figuring out, what object i am talking about, until Channie explains it!

Swiping his tousled hair back with a quick movement, Minho halted his steps for a moment to let his gaze wander over his surroundings. 

After many days of traveling, nature had changed a bit around them.   
The trees had gotten smaller and the forests were often interrupted by fields and lakes. 

The latter always forced a squeal of delight out of Jisung, since the temperatures were rising throughout the day, only to drop again, once the sun set.   
Minho himself couldn't exactly say, that he was all too excited about that much water, but in the face of Jisung's annoying, yet adorable joy, he found himself powerless and unable to hide his smile.

Right now, there were no lakes near them though.   
Instead, they were wandering through a light forest, the clouded sky clearly visible above their heads if one looked right past the vivid green of the leaf canopy.

It was a peaceful atmosphere, and Minho was about to turn around to join the conversation going on behind him between Hyunjin and Jeongin, when suddenly, a loud shout let his head whip back forward, all his senses immediately shifting into an alert state. 

Jeongin was by his side within seconds, looking just as attentive as Minho was and the older could feel Hyunjin's presence behind him as well, but when he let his gaze switch over to where Chan and Jisung had been walking in the front, he was only able to spot the blond leader's broad form. 

No sign of the squirrel-like boy he had set out to accompany in the first place, and Minho felt his blood run cold, when he couldn't catch a glimpse of Jisung even after scanning the whole area around them. 

Where was he? Was he in danger? Did something happen?

With a raging growl, Minho felt his inner wolf awaken, turning and twisting inside him in fear-driven anger, before in that moment and in the blink of an eye, everything stopped, when a more or less harsh flick knocked against the back of his head with a sated 'plonk'. 

Way too perplexed to keep his aggression upright, Minho turned around with widened eyes, only to meet Hyunjin's bemused ones to his big surprise.   
The taller alpha had his nose scrunched up, the wrinkles almost hiding the mole beneath his lashes, and now only gave Minho one last soothing pat on the shoulder.

“Sorry but you looked ready to scream murder, and I couldn't let you loose it in the middle of foreign territory!”, he apologized, before pointing ahead of them, past Minho, who still couldn't fully grasp the situation.   
“Besides, there is no reason to panic! The shout was just Ji telling us of something he found!”

“You just flicked me?!” 

For some reason, that was the first thing, that resurfaced from Minho's conscience, while his hand went up to touch the back of his head.   
Not that the hit had hurt that much – Woojin's flicks and slaps were much more injuring - but rather from the disbelief, that sweet, giggly, Hyunjin had dared to finger-flick an older alpha. 

Now, against all his expectations, the taller only shot him an innocent grin. 

“I didn't think, a little flick like that would hurt you, hyung, I'm sorry!”, he apologized, tone clearly mocking, as he grabbed Jeongin's hand and pulled the youngest along, past a still flabbergasted Minho. 

Turning back front, Minho hurried after his two friends to catch up to Chan as well, who was waiting for them a few meters ahead with still no Jisung in sight.   
Although that fact still unnerved the alpha, he couldn't help but focus on Hyunjin once more nonetheless.

“Did you just sass me, on top of finger-flicking me?”, he asked rather rhetorically, once he was walking at one level with the taller boy, but Hyunjin only shrugged, smiling again. 

“I would never, hyung!”, he answered with barely concealed humor evident within his tone, sending Jeongin beside him into fits of laughter and Minho into a state of mock offense.

“Yah!”, he started, about to flick Hyunjin right back, when in that moment, Chan's voice interrupted his revenge.

“You can gladly pay him back later, Minho, but right now, I'd very much like to catch up to Jisung and see what he found, before he manages to do something stupid!”

The blond leader was still waiting up for them, but his eyes were flickering to the side from time to time, obviously the direction into which Jisung probably had disappeared. 

Unable to disagree with Chan's words, Minho let up from a grinning Hyunjin and a still cackling Jeongin, and nodded in affirmation, which immediately got the blond boy opposite him moving again. 

They left their original path towards west and started heading a bit to the right, until through the green of the forest, a few dark silhouettes got visible, hidden between the trunks of the trees.

“Who the fuck lived here before?”, Minho grumbled under his breath, when a slight shiver ran down his spine upon the sight of the leftovers of the three houses in front of them.   
They were in the middle of nowhere and hadn't seen any kind of concrete for at least the past three hours now, which was why the ruins of the buildings, that were still towering over them - even with their broken roofs and crumpling walls - had a rather creepy vibe to them. 

Or maybe they just reminded him too much of civilization and people altogether.

“Language!”, Chan chastised, but didn't even look Minho's way, as he slowly led their group towards the first house.   
It was something, that Minho had taken notice of rather quickly, since he had started traveling with the blond leader. 

Other than Woojin, Chan never actively scolded someone for the use of foul words. Woojin was one to pass around flicks and small hits to get everyone to use proper language, but Chan only reminded others of the fact, that they should watch their mouth, instead of forcing them to actually do it. 

It was calming, and yet, sometimes Minho missed the sting of the slap against the back of his head that his best friend had gladly delivered to him for his every swear word.   
Its lack also meant Woojin's absence.

“Guys, over here!”

Another shout got Minho's attention, and he swerved a bit to the left, along with Chan, to round the house. Hyunjin and Jeongin followed closely after.

As soon as the side of the building came in sight, so did a smiling Jisung which finally soothed the still stuck irritation within Minho and let his tensed shoulders sag a bit.   
Chan seemed to feel the same, because Minho could hear him release a sigh of relief, before they joined the vivacious omega, whose eyes were sparkling with something, that Minho had learned to read as curiosity and thirst for adventure. 

A horrible combination, if it came to someone like Jisung, really!

“Sungie, what are we doing here?”

Apparently, Chan had taken notice of the glimmer within his dongsaeng's eyes as well, because the leader's voice sounded anything but delighted, the boy scanning the unstable looking facade next to which they were now standing, with a wavering gaze. 

Jisung, however, didn't seem to share everyone's concerns, because he simply flashed them a broad grin.

“This house is stuffed to the brim with old things!”, he explained, excitement barely contained, as he held something up in the air.   
“I already found this little pocket knife and I thought, maybe, we could find some more useful utensils, before we get back on track!”

Furrowing his brows slightly, Chan opened his mouth, probably to protest, but the blond got interrupted by Jeongin's excited yell, only seconds before the youngest and Hyunjin bolted past the leader and Jisung, disappearing into the building with the sound of small giggles trailing after them.   
Behind stayed only their stuffed backpacks, that both of them let drop to the floor beside the house.

The slap of Chan's facepalm was loud enough to make Minho flinch, right before he broke into fits of laughter upon seeing the blond's resigned expression.

“Already regretting your decision to take Jeongin with you?”, he asked, which earned him a huff from Chan in return, accompanied by a slight cackle from Jisung, who was still waiting for them.

Their leader let his hand slide off his face again. 

“I'd be fine, if anyone within this group would at least pretend to listen to what I'm saying!”, he complained, his fingers combing strands of his hair out of his face.   
“Or have any kind of self-preservative sense! That would already help a great deal!”

Grinning, Minho snuck his arm around the leader's shoulders, ignoring the flinch, that rocked the blond's body at the contact.   
He had learned to understand, that it wasn't because Chan didn't like the skinship but only because the older didn't know of how to react in return.

“Come on, Channie-hyung, no need to frown so hard!”, he mocked, pulling the leader along with him and motioning for Jisung to go ahead.   
“You still have me after all!”

Offended, Jisung sent him a glare over his shoulder, as he threw his backpack down as well and stepped inside the run-down building. 

“Yah, I'm here, too!” the omega complained, but Chan and Minho both snorted at the same time at the younger boy's comment. 

“Yeah, you're a great help when it comes to obeying orders!”, Chan scoffed, followed by Minho's cackles, the alpha letting his arm slide off the leader's back again to bend over from laughter.

Letting out a sulky huff, Jisung stuck his tongue out at both of them and went off on his own.

Minho could practically feel Chan's eyebrow-raise, as the blond turned towards him, dark eyes sparkling slightly with amusement. 

“Don't flatter yourself, you are in no way better at listening to me than he is!”, the leader scoffed, although the corners of his mouth were raised, indicating the friendly intention behind the harsh words.   
Minho only winked at the older boy, a smirk decorating his own lips.

“True!”, he agreed nonchalantly, not even trying to defend himself, since he knew, Chan was right.   
“But I have the same goal as you of keeping everyone's ass save, so I guess, I'm still your closest catch to an ally!”

Sighing, Chan only nodded in resignation once more. 

“I hate that you are right!”, the leader grumbled before discarding his backpack as well and starting to move, trailing after Jisung, Hyunjin and Jeongin, Minho right by his side.

Now, that they had ended their conversation, Minho was able to inspect the insides of the building better. 

Behind them, light fell through the broken wall, through which they had entered, and illuminated their surroundings, that were stuffed with piles of old things, all covered in a lot of dirt and foliage.   
The ground didn't look any better, but Minho could hear the slight creaking of wooden planks beneath their feet and he hoped to the heavens, that nothing would suddenly break and let them fall straight into hell. 

Alternatively, it could also happen, that the more than just poor looking roof would suddenly decide to crash down on them. 

Minho wasn't entirely sure, which one would be the better way to die, but simply thinking about it made his head hurt and him question himself about why he had even set foot into this house.   
Maybe he should have listened to Chan after all!

“This is a fucking bad idea, and I know that you know it!”, the leader also exclaimed in that very second, looking around them with his eyes filled with suspicion and concern.   
“I can basically count down the seconds until something goes wrong!”

Any comeback Minho could have come up with got ripped away from his lips, when as if on cue, a high-pitched screech echoed through the building, followed by thundering footsteps.   
Shock washed over Minho and he felt the small hair within his neck rise as a shudder went down his entire spine, his inner wolf starting to squirm once again.

“What the fuck is going on?”, Chan growled, the blond looking ready to fight whoever had made his pack-mates scream like that. 

Minho would have liked to scold his leader for using the word 'fuck', just for the fun of it, but if he was honest, he would rather not get on Chan's nerves right now.   
The older had switched on his leader-mode, and that was not something to mess with, how the alpha had learned.

Seconds later, a terrified looking Hyunjin rounded the corner a few meters ahead of them, followed by an evilly grinning Jeongin, who was holding something within his hand, obviously chasing the taller alpha with it.

“Get that thing away from me!”, Hyunjin yelped again, saving himself behind Minho with a daring jump that let the planks beneath them groan in protest. 

Jeongin, wheezing from laughter, came to a skidding halt right in front of Chan and Minho, who were still within their defensive positions, muscles tense and senses alert.

“Come on, Jinnie-hyung, it's just a slug!”, the younger alpha laughed, pants still disrupting his talk, as he stretched out his hand to Minho and Hyunjin. 

Now, Minho was able to see Jeongin's possession as well, and he recoiled in disgust.   
Not that he wasn't used to it after weeks of living outside within the woods, but he had never been really fond of the slimy consistence of slugs.   
And this one was especially long!

“Gross! Innie, what the fuck!”, he pressed out, taking a step back as well with Hyunjin still clinging to his shoulders.   
“How can you even touch that thing?”

Rolling his eyes, Jeongin placed the slug down in top of an unidentifiable piece of furniture beside them. 

“Its just a little moist, that's all!”, he defended, before – to Hyunjin's and Minho's big horror – wiping his hand on his pants.   
“No need to freak out over it!”

“Okaaaay - “, Chan interrupted them, arms raised in the attempt to get everyone's attention. 

“Its great that you guys gave us a heart attack without proper reason and I'm happy, that you guys seem fine -”, the leader, too, threw Jeongin's hand and pants a rather judgmental look, before he let his gaze roam their surroundings again. “but where is Sungie?”

Now, that Chan mentioned it, Minho, too, got aware of the absence of the omega, and he couldn't help the groan, that escaped him. 

“Not again!”

Luckily, in that moment, Jisung rounded the corner in a similar fashion to how Jeongin had done it before, with a big excited smile on his face and something within his right hand, from which Minho very dearly hoped, that it was something way less slimy compared to Jeongin's discovery.

“Guys, I found something!”, the omega exclaimed superfluously, halting in front of all of them as well, as he held out the item he had been carrying. 

It wasn't a slug - which earned the thing points on Minho's scala of approval.   
But on the other hand, if he was honest, it wasn't anything he had ever seen.

Basically, it was a handle, as broad as a slightly thicker branch, that thinned out into a slim stick of rusty metal, which disappeared under wrinkles of fabric.   
The texture was slightly off, nothing Minho had ever really seen before, but it looked like the fabric was wrapped around the stick, Jisung was holding onto, several times, as if it would be able to expand into a much bigger blanket or anything of the sort. 

All in all, it looked majorly weird in Minho's eyes and he couldn't help but scrunch his nose up a little in confusion.

“Ji, no offense, but what exactly is that?” 

Hyunjin, who was still somewhat hiding behind Minho, peaked past the older's form, seeming equally clueless.

Chan only shrugged with a sigh. 

“Its nothing special, just an...!”, the oldest started, but he got cut off by Jeongin exclaiming: “It has a button!” and eagerly pointing at the handle of the thing while squinting a bit. 

This shifted Jisung's attention to the small button on the bottom of the handle as well, who eyed it with growing curiosity. 

“What happens, if I push it?”, the omega asked with genuine interest, finger already going up to fondle the bump lightly.

“Nothing much probably, it's just gonna...”, Chan tried again, but got interrupted once more, this time by a curt pop, when Jisung pressed down on the button without further ado. 

The noise surely wasn't loud, but that didn't change the fact, that almost simultaneously, the weird item literally exploded within the omega's hands.   
There was no other way to say it, really! 

One second, it had been small and innocent looking, the next it was the size of a small tree, a huge circle or fabric jumping right into Minho's face. 

Said alpha flung himself backwards, a horrified yelp escaping his throat, which morphed into a pained groan, when his head collided with something that felt suspiciously like Hyunjin's jaw.

During the whole action though, Hyunjin apparently hadn't been fast enough to catch onto Minho's movement, because when Minho landed, there was something beneath his shoes that wasn't even ground but something way softer and trippier, resulting in him loosing his balance and falling backwards. 

And since Hyunjin's foot was very obviously trapped beneath Minho's own, the taller boy couldn't sidestep either and was bound to crash down together with Minho, flailing arms and high-pitched shrieks all included.

The two landed on the creaking floor in a pile of tangled limbs and with a cloud of dust and foliage rising around them, that burned within Minho's lungs and eyes, forcing him to cough twice, before he was able to fight himself back to his feet.

When he turned around, the first thing, that Minho set his gaze on, was Chan toppling over from laughter.   
The second was the still huge round thing, over which verge Jisung's face now began appearing again, eyes big with surprise.

“I did not see that one coming!”, the omga simply commented, as his stare switched between Minho and the object within his hands with obvious admiration. 

Minho scoffed in offense.

“That's all you have to say?”, he retorted in a peeved tone, pointing at the....thing in an accusing manner.   
“You almost killed me with that thing!” 

The shock still sat within his bones and even if he didn't like to admit it – his breath was a little unstable as well.   
Jumpiness had always been a weakness of his. 

Chan's laughter grew louder and the blond fell to his knees, apparently unable to keep himself upright any longer.

Rolling his eyes, Jisung lowered the thing a bit, giving Minho a better look at him and also Jeongin, who looked like he was fighting hard to conceal his own cackles. 

“Don't be so overdramatic, Lino!”, the omega commented dryly.   
“Also, if I were you, i'd take a step to the side! Jinnie looks kinda uncomfortable!”

Whipping his head around, Minho threw a glance to the floor, only to realize, that Hyunjin still hadn't gotten up and was helplessly staring up to him with big eyes. 

With reason, because the tall alpha was still trapped underneath Minho, him having placed his feet to both of the other boy's sides, rendering him immobile.

Muttering an apology, Minho changed his position and reached down to help Hyunjin up into a standing posture as well, before he turned back towards Jisung.

“What did you call me?”, he picked up their prior conversation again.   
“Overdramatic? That thing exploded right into my face because of you! I didn't hear you say anything for yourself about that!”

Flashing him an innocent grin, Jisung only shrugged. 

“Oops?”, he gave back, tone anything but apologetic.

By now, Chan was in tears on the floor and Jeongin didn't look much better, wheezing behind Jisung as if this was the funniest scene he had ever witnessed in his life.

“I don't think, Channie-hyung is doing so good!”, Hyunjin commented from behind Minho before stepping to the alpha's side.   
His words let them all look down at their leader, who was desperately gasping for air, his normally pale skin flushed from lack of oxygen, while yelps of laughter still escaped his quivering lungs.

Crouching down beside his leader, Jisung reached out to poke the dying boy. 

“Channie-hyung, are you alright?”, he asked, however apparently forgetting about the weird object within his other hand, because Jeongin could only jump back just in time, before Jisung would have slapped him straight across the face with the thing. 

“Sungie, jesus, watch out!”, Minho hissed out as a warning, stepping forward and squatting down as well to grab the item out of Jisung's hand, but that only resulted in the omega rather enthusiastically turning towards him and headbutting him – strongly! 

A loud 'plonk' could be heard and pain erupted behind Minho's forehead, causing him to groan.   
A sound that quickly got mirrored by Jisung, who was rubbing his own temple with a grimace spread on his face. 

Chan however, who had been in the process of calming down again, seemed to find the whole thing absolutely hilarious, because the leader started cackling like a maniac once more, his head falling back onto the floor where his blond hair fanned out like a curly halo around him.

“Great, now you broke him again!”, Jisung complained in Minho's direction, who could only stare at the younger in disbelief, as his inner irritation started burning up again.   
His wolf was long done with getting riled up over Jisung's comments, but he himself certainly wasn't.

“I broke him?”, he gave back, finally able to grab the wrist of Jisung's hand, that was still holding onto the foreign object, and do damage control by keeping it still.   
“You were the one who pressed the goddamn button on a thing, that we didn't even know the use of! For all we know, that thing could have killed us!”

Jisung snorted. 

“Right, it almost did with you!”, he remarked sarcastically, which earned him a snicker from Jeongin and Hyunjin, and a glare from Minho.

“Very funny!”, he growled, but his obvious irritation didn't seem to faze Jisung in the least. 

Instead, the omega simply turned his attention back towards Chan, whose noises of amusement had died down a little again, leaving him panting.   
The blond's cheeks were wet with tears, his dark eyes still glistening, but at least, he looked mostly coherent again, as he slowly pushed himself back into a sitting position. 

Or so Minho thought.

“Channie-hyung, you wanted to tell us what this thing was, beforehand, didn't you?”, Jisung asked sweetly while pointing up to both – his and Minho's – hands holding onto the object that towered over them like a protecting shield. 

Wiping his tears away, Chan let out a sound, that reminded Minho of a dying mouse, before the leader started giggling again, eyes crinkling up and dimples reappearing once more.

“Oh come on, aren't you done anytime soon?”

Tipping his head back in exasperation, Minho stared at the thing above them for a few seconds, blaming it for his newfound misery, before focusing back on Chan. 

“There is only a certain amount of time someone can find something that funny!”

Apparently, Chan seemed to disagree, because the blond needed another three long minutes, filled with laughter, that bordered on whimpers by now, before the leader was finally able to get ahold of his sanity again. 

Minho's, on the other hand, was running dangerously thin by now and his arm was threatening to give out from the strange position it was in due to still holding the object up over his and Jisung's head.

“Are you finally willing to tell us what that thing is?”, he groaned out, as Chan run a hand through his tousled blond hair, swiping it back in the process.   
The leader nodded in affirmation.

“Yeah, well, I tried doing that from the very start...”, he reminded, voice slightly hoarse and a smirk still stuck on his face.   
“But a certain someone wasn't patient enough to listen!”

“You said, nothing much would happen, so I declared it not dangerous!”, Jisung whined. 

“It's not!”, Chan also assured. 

Hyunjin, who had crouched down to Minho's left, cocked his head to the side in a confused manner. 

“Then what just happened?”, the tall alpha asked, sounding just as clueless as Minho felt.   
“What is it exactly?”

Chan shrugged. 

“It's an umbrella!”

Silence

“A what?” 

Jeongin seemed to be the one voicing everyone's thoughts, because Minho was pretty sure, that he wasn't the only one who was absolutely lost upon the mention of the word. 

“An Umbrella!”, Chan repeated while he started scrambling to his feet again.   
Minho gladly followed the blond's movement, his legs figuratively moaning in delight upon finally being able to straighten themselves back out from their long bend position. 

Effectively, he pulled up Jisung with him, since he was still holding onto the omega's wrist with his right hand, for which the younger muttered a small thanks in his direction.

“It's an object that people used to protect themselves from the rain!”

Apparently, Chan had caught onto their confusion. 

“I'm just surprised, that the mechanism still works, even after all those years!”

“Mechanism?” 

This time it was Hyunjin again, who asked.

Chan nodded in confirmation. 

“The button Jisung pushed! It lets it snap open automatically!”

“Ah, so that's what happened!”, Jisung realized, throwing Minho a smug look.   
“No explosion and no danger!” 

“Fuck you too!”, Minho grumbled, ignoring the way Jisung's snicker warmed his insides despite his annoyance.

“Well, I suppose, in the hands of someone like you, even an umbrella can become something rather dangerous!”, Chan commented with a dry tone, speech directed at Jisung, who pouted at the words.

Minho on the other hand, couldn't help a self-satisfied chuckle escaping him, as he was finally able to pry the handle of the umbrella out of Jisung's grasp, throwing it behind them to finally fully ban the danger of someone getting injured by the object under Jisung's control. 

A loud clatter could be heard, that made everyone present flinch a little, but when no sounds followed, Minho decided to ignore whatever pile's life he had just ended.

“Great, now that that's taken care of...” 

Jeongin heaved a sigh. 

“Does anyone maybe wanna get back on track? It's already noon and we still have to find a proper place for our camp, somewhere near water. I haven't seen one single stream for the entire past two hours and I'm hella thirsty, if I have to admit it!”

Nodding in agreement, Chan looked around. 

“We really should get going!”, he second the opinion of the youngest.   
“Come on guys!”

That being said, the leader set off into a direction, apparently with the intention to lead them out of the house. 

Sighing in resignation, Minho let go of Jisung's hand, ignored a giggling Hyunjin and hurried after Chan. 

Catching the blond by his sleeve, he pulled the orientation-less leader back and into the proper direction, which was the opposite. 

Seriously, sometimes Minho felt like a babysitter to four overgrown men-children!

“Right, wrong way!”, Chan simply mumbled as he detached himself from Minho and walked past the alpha, taking over the lead again, although together with Hyunjin and Jeongin.   
The taller threw Minho a knowing but rather bemused look before he went over to guiding his leader again.

As soon as they finally reached the broken wall again and stepped outside, relief washed over Minho.   
Beside him, Jisung, too exhaled audibly, seemingly just as happy, as he was, to finally have the sky above their heads again, instead of an unstable roof.

“Why did you go in there in the first place, if it made you so uncomfortable?”, Minho couldn't help but ask the omega beside him, when they strapped their backpacks back on. 

Jisung only grinned back.

“I was bored and those houses screamed adventure!”, he explained nonchalantly.   
“Besides, other than you guys, I had my fun!”

Although the words forced an eye-roll out of Minho, he couldn't help the smile tugging on the corners of his lips as well. 

“What is it with you, that whenever you go on one of your adventures, I have to fear for my or your life?”, he questioned but with no real bite to his voice. 

Giggling, Jisung swerved a bit into his way of walking and bumped his shoulder against Minho's in a gesture of affection. 

“Dunno!”, the omega shrugged again.   
“But you were aware of that before you decided to join me, now weren't you?”

Exhaling, Minho let out a breathy laugh. 

“True that!”, he admitted with another soft smile.   
“What was I thinking?” 

Running his fingers through his brown hair, that had gotten slightly longer ever since they had set off, Jisung threw a glance upwards towards the still gray sky. 

“You'd be bored at home, trust me!”, he then commented.   
“And you would miss me!”

The statement wasn't sly or smug in any way, just brutally honest, and Minho couldn't do anything else but simply nod along. 

“So much!”, he agreed quietly before settling with a grin again.   
“And besides, you would probably die without me!”

Jisung's leg was faster in front of his foot than Minho could realize and in the next moment, he was flying forward, only barely catching himself in time to not faceplant into the earthy ground.

Cackling, Jisung jumped away from him. 

“Sure, I'd be the one to die!”, the omega mocked.   
“You can't even keep your own balance!”

Regaining his posture, Minho turned towards the younger with a heated growl on his lips. 

“Oh you did not!”, he glowered, to which Jisung only laughed, running off to catch up to the rest of their group with Minho right at his heels.   
He also still had a crow to pick with a certain tall alpha, now that he thought about it!

“Come back here, you little shit!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it? Did i manage to make you guys laugh?  
> If yes, i'm happy!!;)
> 
> Stay save everyone!
> 
> There is one more extra chapter to follow, but since it's so Long, i'm unsure, whether my wifi and Computer will Play along...  
> We'll see! If id doesn't load today, i will update it tomorrow!


	10. #10: Minho learns how to swim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setting: a lake on the way towards the mountains
> 
> Warning: Minsung;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There, i'm finally done with editing this whole Thing;)
> 
> Took me Long enough, but now you can enjoy some fluffy Minsung! Also, i had to make it a Teeny tiny bit sad at the end to allow Jisung to let go of his past! But other than that, it's harmless, i promise!
> 
> Enjoy!:)

“I'm not sure about this!”  
  
Warily, Minho let his doubtful gaze roam the clear surface of the lake in front of him.  
They had found the place during their daily hunt, and - because of it's peacefulness and beauty – had decided to spent the rest of the day on the field beside the forest to let their feet rest for a while.  
  
At first, Minho had been delighted about the thought of relaxing for a while, letting his muscles soak within the warm rays of the summer sun.  
But now, he kind of wished, they had made a different decision.  
  
Not that he wasn't grateful for the break.  
After almost two months of traveling, walking almost every day and during any kind of weather, he really appreciate the change of pace.  
  
But for some stupid reason, that he himself didn't quite understand now, Jisung had managed to persuade him to learn how to swim.  
  
And Minho was currently in the process of regretting every single one of his life choices so far.  
  
“Don't worry, I'll be there to save you at any time!”  
  
Jisung, who had already waded a little into the water, turned around with a smile, that probably was meant to be reassuring.  
To Minho, it looked rather threatening though.  
  
“That's another thing I'm worried about!”, he mumbled, before finally discarding his shoes and shirt to the ground as well while insistently ignoring Jisung's pout.  
  
His pants stayed on, just like Jisung's, to give the clothing a chance to get back to their usual color.  
It used to be black, but by now, the item looked rather brown, baked with all kinds of dirt.  
  
“You really should put more faith in me!”, Jisung whined from the front, before he let himself fall backwards into the lake, water splashing to both his sides.  
  
A wide content grin spread on the omega's face.  
  
“Ahh, finally I'm cooled down!”, he sighed before dunking his head under water as well to wet his hair.  
  
The days had gotten considerably hotter over the past weeks and Minho had to admit, that even despite his uneasiness, he, too, found the lake seducing with the heat of the sun-rays burning down on his bare back and shoulders.  
  
Nonetheless, he didn't dare to make another step forward.  
  
It was still water after all.  
  
Jisung broke the surface again with a gasp and shook his head rapidly to get his dripping bangs out of his eyes.  
  
“Come on, Lino, it's really refreshing!”, the omega coaxed before he started ruffling his hair a bit, probably to get the salt of his sweat out of it.  
  
Throwing the rest of their group an unsure glance over his shoulder, Minho's gaze met Hyunjin's, who was currently busy with taking the small deer apart, that they had hunted down.  
Jeongin, who was seated beside the tall alpha to help him, giggled.  
  
“Don't expect assistance from us!”, the youngest declared with a mischievous grin plastered on his face.  
“I _can_ swim, even if not as perfectly as Jinnie-hyung!”  
  
Minho sighed.  
  
It was true.  
Apart from him, all members of their group were at least able to prevent themselves from drowning.  
Chan and Hyunjin were even really good swimmers, how he had learned a few minutes prior, when both of them had jumped into the lake to cool down before starting with their tasks, Chan disappearing into the forest again to collect some wood for their fire.  
  
Minho was already unsure, of how they would get Chan back safely, since their leader still hadn't improved at all in finding directions, but Hyunjin had assured him, that he would be able to lead Chan home with some whistles.  
  
Minho hoped to the heavens it would work.  
He really wasn't too keen on having to search the entire forest for the orientation-less blond.  
  
Focusing back front, Minho met Jisung's expecting gaze  
He heaved another sigh of resignation.  
What had he gotten himself into here?  
  
“Fine, what do you want me to do?”, he finally relented, ignoring the churning of his own stomach.  
If he wouldn't try, he would never conquer his fear or inability.  
  
“Well, first of all, I would like you to actually step into the lake, or else we're not gonna get anywhere, not even with good-will!”, Jisung answered dryly, making Minho aware of the fact, that he was indeed still standing on the shore of the lake with not even his toes touching the brim.  
  
Sheepishly, he finally moved, wading into the water as well.  
The contact of the liquid with his heated skin was pure joy and he felt himself sighing, as he went in a little deeper, up until the water was playfully licking at his stomach.  
  
Despite the comfort, it felt dangerous to Minho.  
Like a monster nipping at his skin, ready to devour him once he let his guard down for a second.  
He suppressed a shiver.  
  
“Doesn't it feel great? All fear aside, it's amazing, isn't it?”  
  
Jisung appeared right in front of him, heart-shaped smile so wide, that Minho couldn't bear to keep his own frown upright any longer.  
Shyly, he let his lips crack a small grin as well.  
  
“Well, it did prevent me from getting roasted alive!”, he admitted jokingly, hoping the humor would hide his uneasiness.  
  
But Jisung seemed to know him better than he had thought.  
Or he was simply too easy to see through.  
  
Expression fading into something calmer, Jisung reached out and carefully grabbed Minho's hands, that he had been holding up above the surface of the lake in the search for something to cling to.  
  
Something that hadn't been there - until now.  
  
“Relax, Lino, look at me!”, Jisung's voice was soothing as he coaxed Minho's attention to himself, away from the danger of the water.  
“It's okay. We can stop any time. You are in full control! And I'm here! You're not alone!”  
  
Letting out the shaky breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding, Minho forced himself to solely focus on Jisung's big brown eyes.  
The omega's orbs were sparkling, looking almost golden under the warm light of the sun, and Minho found himself actually letting his tense shoulders sag.  
  
Jisung was right! He wasn't alone!  
  
“Okay, I'm ready!”, he announced after another exhale.  
“What am I supposed to do?”  
  
Taking a step back without shifting his gaze or letting go of Minho's hands, Jisung flashed him another smile.  
  
“We,”, he corrected, “are gonna go in a little deeper!”, he explained, the words letting the knot within Minho's stomach reappear.  
“And then we're gonna start doing some exercises to get you to trust yourself and me!”  
  
Hesitantly, Minho let the omega pull him a little further into the lake.  
The ground beneath his bare feet was uneven and covered in stones, but it wasn't unpleasant.  
  
To be honest, Minho would have found it way worse, if he had had to wade through soft mud, within which creatures could live whose acquaintance he really didn't have to make.  
  
When the water started rising against his lower chest, Minho couldn't suppress his growing panic any longer.  
Normally, this far in would have been fine, but with the knowledge towering over him, that soon he would be in even further, his nerves were wearing thin.  
  
Halting his steps, he pulled Jisung to a stop as well.  
  
“No further!”, he squeaked out, mentally slapping himself for sounding so ridiculously scared.  
But apparently, Jisung didn't care.  
  
Flashing him another smile – the umpteenth one for this day already – the omega only nodded.  
  
“I didn't plan on going in that much farther anyway!”, he assured.  
“We're gonna do an exercise now, whenever you're ready!”  
  
Suspiciously, Minho narrowed his eyes a little.  
'Exercise' sounded dangerously easy and he wasn't too sure, whether he wanted to know, what Jisung had planned for him.  
  
“What are you talking about?”, he therefore asked slowly, not daring to let his gaze roam the water around him for even a second.  
Maybe, as long as he couldn't see it, it wouldn't bother him too much.  
  
“You're gonna lie down,”, Jisung began to explain, but even his first words set off a blaring warn-light within Minho's mind, resulting in him interrupting the omega immediately.  
  
“Lying down?”, he practically screeched as his own pulse picked up its pace drastically.  
What was Jisung thinking? He couldn't just lie down in the middle of a fucking lake!  
  
“Do you want me to drown? I can't...”  
  
Just as abruptly as he had begun, Minho got cut off by Jisung pressing down his finger on the alpha's lips, effectively silencing him.  
His hand was still clasp tightly around the omega's, but Jisung didn't seem to mind it too much.  
  
Instead he only raised one of his eyebrows in mild humor.  
  
“Let me finish, Lino!”, he simply demanded.  
  
The gesture left Minho speechless for a moment, which Jisung used to his advantage.  
  
Lowering their hands again, the omega began moving his arms around within the water, creating shallow waves that tickled Minho's skin.  
It actually felt nice.  
  
“I want you to lie down on your back. I'm gonna hold you up so you won't sink beneath the surface!”, the brown-haired boy explained calmly.  
  
Scoffing, Minho tried to rip his gaze away from the roughed up water in front of him, but somehow, he couldn't.  
  
“You can't hold me up!”, he objected, his voice harsher than he would have liked for it to be, but the fear made him blunt.  
“I'm way too heavy for you!”  
  
A light chuckle finally let him look up again, meeting Jisung's warm golden gaze.  
  
“In water, everything is much lighter than on land!”, the omega replied calmly.  
“In here, I can even lift Channie-hyung up easily!”  
  
Gaping at Jisung, Minho actually forgot about his fear for a moment.  
  
“Chan?”, he asked in disbelief.  
“You? But that guy is heavy as hell!”  
  
Giggling, Jisung again pressed his finger to Minho's lips while glancing past him for a second with a barely concealed grin.  
  
“Shh, he's back already, don't let him hear!”, he whisper-yelled at Minho.  
  
The action somehow calmed the alpha a bit, and he actually found himself smiling against Jisung's finger, before he nodded.  
  
“Okay, fine, I'm gonna do your stupid exercise!”, he gave in.  
“But don't you dare drop me, I swear!”  
  
Only afterwards he realized, what he had just said, and he felt himself panicking again, although this time for a different reason.  
  
“No no no, I meant, 'I dare you not to drop me'!”, he added while wildly shaking his head, throwing Jisung into a laughing-fit.  
  
“Relax!”, the omega assured after calming down again.  
“Not even a dare could make me drop you!”  
  
The words somehow touched Minho.  
That had to count for something coming from Jisung of all people, right?  
  
“Alright, how are we doing this?”, he asked, earning a satisfied look from Jisung for his mention of the word 'we'.  
  
Carefully, the omega tried to pry one of his hand free of Minho's tight grip.  
  
“Hyung?”, he spoke up after a few seconds.  
  
Minho only hummed while staring at his hands that were still clinging to Jisung's.  
  
“You have to let me go in order for this to work!”  
  
“Oh, right!”, Minho mumbled, attempting to free Jisung, but his fingers just wouldn't budge, refusing to loosen their hold on the omega's own.  
  
“It's not working!”, he replied, his voice sounding weirdly calm.  
Actually, he was weirdly calm on the inside, too, although he somehow was sure that it wasn't a positive thing.  
  
“Lino, Look at me!”  
  
Jisung's coaxing voice got him out of his head once again and his grip finally opened to release Jisung's hands, that had slightly red spots, where Minho's fingered had been.  
  
“I'm sorry!”, he pressed out, his lungs suddenly too right to filter any more oxygen out of the air.  
The water around his lower body somehow felt suffocating, too.  
  
“Don't worry about it, just focus on me and relaxing!”, Jisung answered gently.  
“Now, when you feel ready, try to turn around and lie on your back on top of my arms. I promise you, I'll catch you!”  
  
Exhaling, Minho forced himself to turn around, so that he was standing with Jisung to his left.  
  
“Isn't catching my job, though?”, he joked to distract himself, referring to the crane-incident.  
Jisung only scoffed.  
  
“We're taking turns!”, he replied, just as Minho dared to slowly let himself tip backwards.  
  
He almost expected to get swallowed up by the cool waves around him, but to his honest surprise, warm arms stopped his fall as they reached under his back and held him up.  
  
Water was nipping at his nape, wetting the few strands of hair there, but other than that, he didn't sink.  
  
“Wohoo, guess I'm still alive!”, he commented, only now realizing, how heavy he was panting.  
“What's the use of this position though?”  
  
Jisung, whose face was right above him, only giggled before reaching under his thighs as well and hoisting him up fully.  
  
A little shriek escaped Minho, and he clawed at the omega's neck for support, but when his body realized, that the younger could indeed hold him up like this, he dared to relax a little.  
  
“Calm down, Lino, I'm not gonna drop you!”  
  
Jisung's voice was warm, it's vibrations resonating through the omega's chest, that was firmly pressed against Minho's side.  
It was a somewhat comforting feeling.  
  
“Now try and straighten yourself out! The water is able to carry you, even without you doing anything. That is something you need to learn in order to be able to float!”  
  
Furrowing his brows, Minho stared up at Jisung with a doubting gaze.  
  
“Are you telling me, I can just lie within water, doing nothing and not drown?”, he probed to make sure.  
  
He couldn't remember the water knowing of that fact the last time he had tried swimming!  
  
But the omega nodded in affirmation.  
  
“You relax, I'm gonna hold you up, until you don't need it anymore!”, he simply replied.  
“It works best, if you close your eyes. Just trust me! You're not gonna drown!”  
  
There was more than just one concern jumping around within Minho's head, but he chose to ignore them, rather choosing to trust Jisung's words.  
  
With a last glance thrown at the omega, he let his eyelids fall shut to concentrate himself solely on straightening his back and limbs.  
  
He could feel Jisung's hands on his skin, holding him up from beneath and that gave him enough courage to focus on the feeling of the water around him.  
  
Parts of his chest, as well as his face were still breaking the surface, enabling him to breathe freely.  
Everything else was caught in the cool embrace of the lake.  
  
Actually, now that he thought about it, it was kind of relaxing.  
Everything was calm and peaceful, no loud sounds disrupting the silence.  
  
He could hear Chan and Jeongin joke around in the background somewhere and the lapping of the small waves against the shore.  
And right beside him were Jisung's soft breaths, grounding him in a place with no ground.  
  
“Great, Lino, you're doing it!”  
  
Opening his eyes, Minho's gaze met the clear blue sky above him, as well as Jisung's excited and proud expression at the corner of his vision.  
Only then did he realize, that the omega's hands were gone, not supporting his body any longer.  
  
He was floating. In water. Without doing anything.  
He wasn't drowning!  
  
“Oh my god, this is weird!”  
  
Deciding, that he had enough, Minho brought himself back into an upright position, shaking his now wet hair a bit.  
He felt weirdly light and weightless.  
  
When he turned back to Jisung, the younger was still grinning.  
  
“Ready for step two, or do you want a break?”, the omega asked genuinely.  
  
For a moment, Minho thought about it, but then he shook his head.  
His fear was only present in the back of his head for now, and he felt ready to accomplish more.  
Who knew, when he would be able to gather enough courage again to continue.  
  
“Let's keep going!”, he therefore decided and Jisung only nodded.  
  
“We're gonna go in deeper now!”, the omega explained.  
“Then we will try to keep ourselves afloat by moving our legs and arms.”  
  
Immediately the fear crept back into Minho's conscience, but Jisung seemed to be aware of that.  
  
“It's okay!”, the omega assured Minho.  
“Swimming itself is actually almost easier than keeping oneself above the surface on one single spot. But as soon as you can do the latter, you won't have to fear drowning anymore, because if swimming doesn't immediately work, you can just go back to floating!”  
  
Taking a breath, Minho hummed in understanding.  
  
“Alright, let's do it!”, he agreed, following Jisung's slow steps further into the lake, until the water around them was reaching up to their shoulders, only leaving their heads free.  
  
“Jisung!”, Minho called out, very much aware of the more or less well controlled panic within his voice.  
Immediately, a warm hand wrapped back around his own to give him some kind of hold.  
  
“Don't worry, I'm here!”, the omega beside him assured.  
“I'm not letting you drown!”  
  
It took a few seconds, but eventually, Minho felt his pulse go down a bit again, his breathing evening out.  
  
“Okay!”, he mumbled back.  
  
Jisung flashed him a blinding smile.  
  
“Alright, hold onto my shoulders, we're gonna do this now!”, he then exclaimed, pulling Minho closer to put the alpha's arms around his neck.  
Confused, Minho cocked his head to the side.  
  
“What do you me-?”, he started, but cut himself off with a terrified shriek, when Jisung simply made a jump forwards into the deeper part of the lake, pulling him along.  
Clenching his eyes and lips together, Minho held tightly only Jisung, waiting for the waves to crash over their heads and swallow them up, but nothing happened.  
The water didn't even reach his face, except for a few splashes.  
  
Carefully, he pried his eyes open again, only to stare right into Jisung's brown orbs, that were sparkling with amusement.  
  
The omega's legs were moving under them, how Minho could feel, obviously keeping them above the surface, but the boy's arms were tightly wrapped around Minho's bare waist and held him up safely.  
  
“I told you, you can trust me!”, Jisung repeated between breaths.  
“I'm not gonna drop you!”  
  
“Fuck you!”, Minho spat back, shock still prominent within his chest, but he felt too giddy to actually be mad at Jisung for surprising him like that.  
  
He was not drowning! He had no ground beneath his feet and was not drowning!  
  
Giggling, the omega only squeezed his waist slightly and kept quiet.  
Only his breathing got more labored.  
  
“Wait, is this exhausting to you?”, Minho wanted to know after a few seconds.  
Hadn't Jisung said that in water, everything was lighter?  
Was he too heavy?  
  
“Well, it's certainly not the power of my mind, that keeps us afloat!”, the younger deadpanned but with a small smile.  
“But don't worry, I still have a lot of stamina left! Now you try it as well!”  
  
Biting his lip uneasily, Minho stared at the roughed up water around him.  
  
He should manage to keep himself up in this? But how?  
There was nothing to grab, nothing to support himself with! It was just...water!  
  
“Try moving your legs at first!”  
  
Apparently, Jisung had caught on to his cluelessness.  
  
“How, isn't too important, as long as you do it with a rhythm. For example, Channie-hyung taught me this weird movement, where you form a circle with your legs, kind of as if you would push yourself away from the water. You have to kick it, basically!”  
  
Minho's head was spinning with all the incoming words.  
  
Kick the water? Gladly, but how?  
  
“Look down!”, Jisung ordered.  
“The water is clear enough to see through it! Look how I do it and try to copy me!”  
  
Looking down, Minho could recognize the shadows of Jisung's kicking legs.  
After a moment, he dared to copy the movement, resulting in something actually happening.  
  
He felt himself getting pushed up with every kick.  
  
“Awesome, you're doing great!”, Jisung cheered between his pants.  
“Once you feel confident in your kicks, you can try to let me go with one hand and use it to stabilize yourself. How that works, you'll realize. Your body will do it automatically!”  
  
A part of Minho didn't want to loosen his hold on Jisung, but he forced one of his hands away nonetheless to let it glide through the water around him.  
Slowly he detached his own body from Jisung's warm torso while keeping his kicking up.  
  
At first, he sunk a bit, his fear rising again and letting his heartbeat pick up it's pace once more, adrenaline shooting through his veins.  
But then, slowly but carefully, he started floating.  
  
Driven by a spark of courage, from which Minho himself wasn't sure, where it came from, he fully let go of Jisung's shoulders...  
\- and was free.  
  
His head was still above the surface, he could still breathe and he was still alive.  
He was swimming!  
  
“Jisung, look I'm not drowning!”, he exclaimed happily, his words eliciting a giggle from the omega, who was still beside him.  
  
“I can see, Lino!”, the younger replied with a warm smile.  
“Now, if you want, you can try to use your arms to pull yourself forward! Kind of like this!”  
  
Getting himself into a more horizontal position, Jisung showed off a weird looking movement with his arms spreading out to both of his sides.  
It kind of looked, as if he was trying to push the water out of his way, but somehow, it seemed to work, because the omega glided forward.  
  
Eager to follow Jisung, Minho tried to copy the movement which promptly lead to him swallowing a big gulp of water, as he dipped under the surface for a second.  
  
His panic awoke again at the risk of drowning, but immediately, Jisung was there, warm hands pushing him up again to let him cough his lungs free of liquid.  
  
“Relax and do it slowly! No need to rush!”, the omega assured which gave Minho the confidence to try again. And again. And again.  
Until finally, Jisung's arms vanished without him following.  
And this time, he was swimming for real!  
  
It wasn't perfect and Minho was more than just sure, that he looked like a worm with all the ungraceful wiggling he was doing, but he was swimming.  
  
“Fucking finally!”, he yelled out, a shot of excitement burning through his arms and legs and igniting his heart.  
  
Laughing, Jisung appeared beside him.  
  
“Told you, you can do it!”, the omega grinned before passing Minho.  
“Isn't this awesome?”  
  
And Minho had to agree.  
It was fucking awesome!  
  
The water was cool and soothing, while the rays of the sun above them were hot enough to prevent them from freezing.  
And finally being able to cross a lake without having to be scared of dying tasted like pure success to Minho.  
  
Him and Jisung went on for a bit, swimming around and enjoying the freshness of the lake, but eventually, Minho felt his arms grow tired.  
Despite the fun, swimming was seriously exhausting!  
  
“No offense, Sungie, but if I don't get some ground beneath my feet real quick, I will drown despite my newly gained ability to swim!”, he therefore admitted, while still keeping himself up with heavy limbs.  
“I'm really tired!”  
  
“Already?”, Jisung joked, but when Minho began swimming back after one quick glare thrown in the omega's direction, he followed without further complaint.  
  
Minho felt overly heavy, when he finally waded out of the water.  
Gravity was pulling him down again, now that he wasn't floating anymore, and his soaked pants, that felt like they weighed three times as much as normally, weren't helping either.  
  
Jisung seemed to feel similar, because the omega let himself fall onto the soft grass of the field with a groan, as soon as they had left the stony shore of the lake.  
  
Gratefully, Minho lowered himself down beside the Omega to spread out his wet limbs to dry in the afternoon-sun, that now felt less hot and more like a comforting warmth.  
  
For a few minutes, it was quiet, without even Jisung muttering any words.  
Then, the silence got broken again.  
But it was Minho, who did it.  
  
“Thank you for teaching me how to swim!”, he mumbled silently, eyes closed as he bathed in the sun-rays.  
“It really helped me get rid of my fear!”  
  
“No problem!”  
  
Jisung's voice was just as warm as the air around them. Pleasant and comforting.  
“Fear is awful and it should never be able to prevent you from doing things, even if it's hard to go against!”  
  
Blindly, Minho reached over the grass, until he was able to catch Jisung's hand in his.  
The omega's skin had already dried.  
  
“Some day, we will manage to get rid of your fear as well!”, he assured.  
  
It was quiet for a moment, before Jisung answered again.  
  
“You think so?”  
  
It was a genuine question, honest and insecure, and Minho found himself sitting up to be able to look at Jisung properly with their fingers still intertwined.  
  
Big brown eyes were staring back at him, again with that golden light to them that only the sun seemed to be able to bring out.  
  
“I know it!”, Minho gave back with determination.  
“We can train that too! We can do exercises against your fear! And some day, when Jeongin falls down on top of you, you won't panic anymore!”  
  
That had happened a few weeks ago.  
Jeongin had tripped during a game of theirs and landed on Jisung and since the youngest hadn't acted fast enough, Jisung had panicked and kicked him off.  
  
Jeongin had felt horrible afterwards and Jisung had felt horrible for making Jeongin feel horrible, aside from kicking him.  
It had taken a lot of reassuring words from everyone to calm the situation down again.  
  
Flashing him a small smile, Jisung gave Minho's hand a soft squeeze.  
  
“Okay!”, he replied, his eyes going up to stare at the sky.  
  
Softly, Minho stared down at Jisung.  
  
The omega had gotten tan, now that he was taking a closer look, the boy's skin a soft beige tone, instead of its old pale appearance.  
Somehow it made Jisung look healthier.  
  
And the white scars on his torso stand out more.  
  
Without thinking, Minho detached his hand from Jisung's grip and let his fingers ghost over the old wounds.  
  
They weren't from the time they had met Zillah.  
That scar was placed on the boy's lower stomach, disappearing beneath the waistband of his pants.  
  
No, those scars were more faint and older, coming from a time, when Minho hadn't known Jisung yet.  
  
“Where did you get those from?”  
  
The words were out before he could think them over.  
  
Jisung, who had been relaxed until now, tensed under his fingertips, slowly opening his eyes to shoot Minho a glance.  
The alpha returned the gaze but didn't take his fingers away, letting them rest on the lines on Jisung's body.  
  
He knew, that Jisung hadn't lost his calmness because of Minho's touch but because of the memories flooding his head now.  
  
“They are from that night!”, Jisung eventually pressed out, his eyes big circles of pain and vulnerability.  
Despite all that, he made no attempt in getting up but stayed down under Minho, even though the alpha was basically towering over him.  
It made Minho proud of how much Jisung already trusted him.  
  
“That bastard again?”, Minho simply asked, teeth clenched a bit, as anger rose from the pit of his stomach.  
  
He had stopped calling Keir by his real name.  
Partly, because he knew, it unnerved Jisung to hear it, but also, because he himself refused to give that monster a name.  
That was a privilege, that guy had lost a long time ago!  
  
When Jisung nodded, Minho needed to fight hard to keep his inner wolf down.  
Insistently he took a few deep breaths, until he felt calm enough again to not demolish something.  
  
To distract himself, he started dragging his fingertips over Jisung's skin, outlining every scar that crossed his way.  
  
Beneath him, Jisung shuddered, but relaxed again, his eyes turning into crescents, as he stared up at Minho with a content smile.  
Said smile developed into a giggle, when Minho's fingers reached his flat stomach, only quickly brushing over the reddened scar on his side.  
  
“Lino, that tickles!”, he yelped, but despite his words, he didn't push Minho's hand away.  
Only his muscles moved slightly as he tried to keep still.  
  
Smiling, Minho let his fingers wander higher, counting the omega's rips on his way up.  
Not that Jisung was undernourished, but when he lied down, it was still possible to see his ribcage clearly.  
  
Gently, Minho dragged his fingertips up to Jisung's shoulder, then over to his collar bone, following the bumps there, before he let his fingers ghost over the omega's throat, up to his jawline, where a few water droplet still hadn't dried up.  
  
Jisung's lips parted slightly, when Minho outlined them as well, rounding the boy's nose and his puffy cheeks, before his hand wandered back down to the omega's chest to halt right above his heart, where he fanned out his fingers and pressed down just enough to feel it's steady beat.  
  
“I can feel your heart beating!”  
  
Jisung gave a dry snort.  
  
“Well, I'd be concerned, if you didn't!”, he retorted with a deadpan expression, giggling, when Minho gave his stomach a light flick for his comment.  
  
A few seconds passed, when Minho only stared at Jisung, taking in the boy's brown locks and tan skin and golden eyes.  
The omega didn't move an inch, but only returned Minho's gaze calmly.  
  
Then Minho couldn't hold his question back any longer.  
  
“Why aren't you afraid of me?”  
  
Jisung's look turned into one of confusion.  
Without moving his hand away from the boy's heart, Minho shrugged.  
  
“Not that i want you to be scared, not at all!”, he assured.  
“But I'm towering over you right now, my hand holding you down. I could easily kill you! So why aren't you afraid of me?”  
  
Instead of flinching or anything of the sort, Jisung only let the corners of his lips tug upwards into a soft smile.  
  
“If I would spent my life fearing anything, that could kill me,”, he started,  
“Then I wouldn't live at all, constantly existing in fear.”  
  
The omega's hand reached up to gently wrap around Minho's wrist, absentmindedly beginning to draw soft patterns into the alpha's skin.  
  
“Literally anything could kill me! The water of this lake, the next storm, Channie-hyung, a fox, a boar, - hell even a dedicated duck could end me!”  
  
Minho couldn't help the snicker, that escaped him at Jisung's words.  
Thinking of that was just so Jisung-like!  
  
The younger giggled as well before catching himself again to continue.  
  
“So basically, I could be afraid of everything!”, he explained calmly.  
“But I'm not because I trust myself and the people around me!”, he gave Minho's arm a squeeze.  
  
“I trust myself, that I am able to swim and know, when it get's too dangerous to do something!” - Minho disagreed with that one! - “And I trust Channie-hyung, because I know, even though he could probably strangle me with one hand, he would never do it!”  
  
Then Jisung smiled up at Minho, eyes glowing with something, that Minho couldn't quite name.  
Nonetheless, it let sparks erupt within his chest and warmth envelope his entire body.  
  
The fading sun above them was nothing in comparison.  
  
“And I trust you because even though your hand is on me, I know you would let me get up as soon as I need you to. And because you would never abuse your power over someone!”  
  
Minho didn't even realize, he was smiling, until his cheeks started to ache from the stretch.  
  
“Thank you, Sungie!”  
  
The words sounded weird, but at the same time, it felt right for Minho to say them.  
  
“Thank you for trusting me!”  
  
He had been aware of it before, but right now, once again the realization hit him, that he would do anything in his power to protect Jisung from anything that could happen to cross their path.  
Nothing and no one would ever dare to touch the boy against his will again!  
  
“Sungie, Minho-hyung! If you want dinner, you gotta help with the preparations!”  
  
Hyunjin's voice got Minho out of his thoughts and he looked over to the tall alpha, who had yelled at them from across the field.  
  
Jisung sat himself up as well, Minho's hand sliding off the omega's chest in the process.  
  
“Alright, we'll be right there!”, the younger shouted back, before scrambling to his feet and reaching his hand out to Minho to pull him up.  
Gratefully, Minho accepted the offer, only to groan, when he straightened out his sore muscles.  
  
He would certainly feel them tomorrow. And probably the day after that as well!  
  
“Come on, it's not that bad!”, Jisung giggled.  
“Tomorrow will be way worse, trust me!”  
  
“Oh how reassuring!”, Minho bit back in a peeved tone while rubbing his shoulder.  
And all that just from a bit of swimming.  
  
Why did he agree to do that again?  
  
“Come on, let's get something to eat!”, Jisung suggested, smirk still plastered over his face.  
Minho would have loved to wipe it off, but he couldn't help but agree on the food-idea.  
So he simply rolled his eyes and went to grab his discarded clothes and shoes, that still lay abandoned at the shore of the lake.  
  
His pants had mostly dried during his time in the sun, only sporting a few leftover wet patches.  
When he turned around again, Jisung was already waiting for him, shirt and shoes in hand.  
  
“We still have to wash out other clothes!”, Minho reminded, as the both of them crossed the field on the way towards their camp, where Hyunjin and Jeongin were already bickering again.  
Jisung only waved the words off.  
  
“Later!”, he assured.  
“First we eat! Afterwards we can wash them together with the others!”  
  
And if Minho was honest, he had nothing to say against that.

__________  
  


After dinner and washing their clothes, their group sat together around their campfire in silent harmony, watching the sun go down over the lake and disappear behind the trees far off in the west.  
  
It was a peaceful atmosphere and Jisung felt his thoughts wander off, back to the occurrences of this day.  
Especially the memory of his and Minho's talk was still fresh within his mind, jumping around inside his brain like an energetic fawn.  
  
He could still feel the alpha's warm fingers trace the outlines of his body, his scars, his face, could still recall the soft pressure of the older's palm on his chest.  
It had felt so...secure!  
  
He had felt secure!  
  
Minho's question had surprised him back then, but after thinking about it, he knew that he had been completely honest.  
  
He wasn't afraid of the alpha.  
  
There was so much warmth and gentleness within the boy's heart, so much passion for the ones he loved.  
Jisung knew, Minho would give his life for the ones he held dear.  
Just like Jisung would protect the alpha with his own life at any time.  
  
A glance thrown to his right showed him Minho's calm expression, the older gazing over the lake, his body supported by both of his hands, as he leaned backwards.  
The alpha's usually rather sharp smell was softer than normally and it made Jisung's chest swell with pride, that apparently, Minho was so relaxed in their presence.  
  
Jeongin and Chan started bickering beside them, the blond by now entirely comfortable around Minho and Jeongin as well.  
Enough to pull a complaining Jeongin into his lap and cuddle him, accompanied by Hyunjin's small giggles.  
  
The action brought a smile to Jisung's lips, Minho mirroring the gesture, as he threw Jisung a knowing look.  
But then, the eyes of the older got caught on something, widening slightly all of the sudden.  
  
Alarmed, Jisung turned back towards the lake, trying to spot what the older had seen, but there was nothing there.  
Only...  
  
“Fireflies!”  
  
Within seconds, Minho was on his feet, staring at the glowing dots within the evening-air with equally sparkling eyes.  
  
Jeongin – still tightly secured within Chan's unforgiving embrace – let out a snort.  
  
“So you finally found some again!”, he commented dryly, but Minho didn't seem to be able to hear him, as the older alpha simply took off to head for the spot on the field, where the little bugs were dancing around within the air.  
  
Curiously, Jisung pushed himself up as well.  
  
“Does he like fireflies?”, he asked Jeongin.  
  
His question elicited a grin from the younger.  
  
“Minho-hyung can't resist fireflies!”, the maknae replied, settling back against Chan's chest more.  
“Whenever he sees some, he has to try and catch them!”  
  
Giggling at the revelation, Jisung started following Minho's figure, that now had reached the dancing lights.  
With a warming heart, Jisung was able to observe, how the older alpha jumped forward, his hands reaching out and closing around one of the flying dots carefully, before he turned around to Jisung with a wide smile, that was unusually childish and carefree for the Minho Jisung had come to know.  
  
“Sungie, look, I caught one!”, he boasted, holding his clasped palms out to Jisung before carefully opening them again to release the glowing bug, that rose into the darkening nightsky like one of the embers of their campfire.  
  
Mouth slightly open in awe, Jisung watched it join its friends again.  
He had never really seen fireflies up close, only admiring them from afar.  
  
“Beautiful, isn't it?”  
  
Minho looked entirely happy, with his tousled dark hair and his glowing brown eyes and Jisung felt, how his own lips spread apart, a wide smile decorating them.  
  
“It's...breathtaking!”, he agreed, watching, how above them, a star started to become visible, shining together with all the dozen fireflies, that began to appear all around them.  
Minho let out a joyful laugh.  
  
“Sungie look, they are trying to teach us how to dance!”, the alpha giggled before starting to move around, his body starting to bring the art to life again, that Jisung had had the pleasure of watching once already, back at the top of the apartment-tower.  
  
Mesmerized, he followed the boy with his eyes.  
All he could see was Minho. And the fireflies surrounding him.  
  
It really looked, as if they were dancing with him!  
  
Opening his closed eyes again after a graceful spin, Minho jumped back to Jisung's side.  
Warm fingers wrapped around Jisung's own, when Minho took his hands, pulling him closer.  
  
“Dance with me!”, the older demanded with a small grin on his face.  
Jisung would have loved to.  
  
“But I can't dance!”, he protested nonetheless.  
He felt like he would pollute Minho's beauty, if he dared to move along with the older.  
  
But Minho seemed to disagree.  
  
“I'll teach you!”, he assured before pulling Jisung flush against his chest.  
  
Stumbling forward, Jisung almost stepped on the alpha's feet, but fortunately he could catch himself in time.  
  
“Lino, I'm gonna fall!”, he laughed, when Minho didn't seem to care, the older starting to spin them around slowly.  
  
It took a few minutes of awkward tripping, but eventually, Jisung noticed the rhythm to Minho's movements and adjusted to it.  
  
And then it suddenly was easy.  
  
Minho was leading him, spinning the both of them around with ease, while all around them the fireflies danced along.  
It was, what Jisung would file under magical.  
  
“Sing for us, Sungie!”  
  
Minho's voice was soft and warm, as he leaned in to place his head on Jisung's shoulder.  
“That one slow song you taught me a few days ago!”  
  
A messy pang of melancholy, pain, sadness and happiness shot through Jisung's heart.  
  
Nesrin's song!  
The song, his friend had taught him that one winter day after studying his reading.  
He had shown it to Minho because the older had also taught him another song of his own.  
  
“Alright!”, Jisung whispered.  
  
He wasn't sure, whether he still remembered all the words, but if he was honest, it didn't matter.  
He remembered the melody, clear as day.  
  
Clearing his throat, he began to sing, quiet and careful, only for him and Minho to hear.  
  
The beginning was shaky and unsure, but the longer he sung, the safer he felt, allowing each tone to get carried away into the darkness of the nightsky above them.  
  
Meanwhile Minho kept them moving, swaying them back and forth and around in soft motions, his forehead still placed on Jisung's shoulder.  
The alpha's arms were wrapped around Jisung's waist, holding him tight but not in a trapping manner.  
  
And Jisung allowed himself to feel safe.  
  
Nonetheless he didn't close his eyes but rather stared into the starry sky, that was slowly but carefully filling with millions of stars as if it was trying to outshine the light-show happening on the field around Jisung and Minho.  
The omega wanted to see everything this moment had to offer.  
  
The song ended, but Jisung started anew, and Minho didn't stop his motions either, only rising his head again after some time to look at Jisung.  
Concern ghosted over his face, as their eyes met.  
  
The song ended again.  
  
“Sungie, you're crying!”  
  
Was he really?  
Slowly, Jisung lifted his right hand from Minho's arm, where it had been placed, and drew his fingers over his cheek.  
They were indeed wet when he pulled them back.  
  
“Nesrin taught me that song!”  
  
Minho made a small sound of understanding while still rocking them back and forth.  
  
“Sungie?”, he then asked carefully.  
“Did you ever allow yourself to grieve?”  
  
Confusion was the first emotion that washed over Jisung at the alpha's words.  
  
Had he let himself grieve?  
Of course he had. He had mourned Nesrin's death for months, a whole year even.  
Had spent nights awake with nothing on his mind but Nesrin's soulless eyes and the knowledge, that maybe, if only he had been a little bit faster, had woken up a little bit earlier...  
  
“I don't think, I understand your question!”, Jisung mumbled carefully.  
“Of course I was sad!”  
  
Minho removed one of his warm hands from Jisung's waist to reach up.  
Gentle fingers ran through the omega's tousled hair, carding his bangs out of his face, so that the cool breeze of the night could nip at his damp cheeks.  
“But have you let yourself cry it out?”, the alpha asked again, his usually narrow eyes round in the darkness.  
  
Had he cried for Nesrin?  
  
Jisung tried to remember.  
He had been angry and guilty, had been desperate and unbelievably sad.  
He had dedicated thousands of nightmares to the girl and had woken up screaming for her from most of them.  
  
But had he ever cried for his friend?  
He couldn't recall an exact time!  
  
“I don't think so...?”, he replied quietly, his words more sounding like a question than an answer.  
  
Minho's hand returned to his side, warming up the cooled down spot there.  
The alpha leaned forward and let his chin drop onto Jisung's shoulder, so that the omega was unable to see the older's face.  
Only his low voice reached Jisung's ear.  
  
“You know, you can cry now, if you want! I'm not gonna tell anyone!”  
  
A weird feeling started to spread within Jisung's chest.  
Like someone was squeezing is lungs together very tightly and with no intention to let go again.  
  
Why should he cry now?  
He was happy and content and save and he was on his way to accomplish Nesrin's goal! The dream of the girl with the long brown hair and the mole on her cheek!  
The dream of his wild rose!  
  
When Minho's soft voice began to fill the air with Nesrin's song, the alpha beginning to spin them again, Jisung's throat tightened.  
The lump within it grew bigger and bigger with every note, that the soft breeze around them carried away for the world to listen to.  
The weird pressure on his chest was also still there and growing, constricting the motions of his breathing and let him gasp for air futilely.  
  
He was okay, right? He was fine!  
He would reach the mountains and do what Nesrin never could!  
  
A moment later, Jisung wasn't able to hold his tears back anymore.  
They just simply flowed down his cheeks without warning, rendering him unable to stop their path, dripping down onto his exposed collar bones like warm rain on a summer night.  
  
More and more they got, until sobs broke free from his heavy chest as well, his body unable to contain all the pain within him any longer.  
Because now that he allowed himself to look, he was almost surprised to find so much agony stored away within himself  
  
Pictures of Nesrin flooded his mind like his tears did with his face and he could almost smell a whiff of her sweet scent in the air, like back then, when he simply had to leave his tent to see her smiling face.  
When his world had still been so weirdly okay.  
  
And when his pain grow unbearable, forcing his muscles to spasm and his quivering heart to clench, Jisung buried his face in Minho's shoulder and screamed.  
Screamed and screamed and screamed, until his voice got hoarse, fading into small whimpers again, all while Minho held him close.  
  
It took a little eternity for Jisung to calm down again.  
He wasn't too sure, how long exactly, but it felt like hours, even though it had probably only been a couple of minutes.  
  
Time was a nonexistent thing out here in the wild.  
  
Jisung's head was pounding, when he raised his face from Minho's shoulder again, his vision blurry from all his tears and his nose stuffed.  
His chest was still rising and falling rapidly from his outbreak, pumping fresh oxygen into his lungs and his throat felt raw and used.  
  
But strangely, Jisung felt better.  
Lighter.  
As if the grip around his poor heart had finally loosened, the grief of his best friend's loss been lifted off his shoulder for the stars to take back and free him from it after all this time.  
  
“I think, Nesrin is up there somewhere now!”  
  
Minho's voice was small, as the alpha raised his head as well to stare up into the sky.  
  
Wiping his face dry with the back of his hand, Jisung cracked a small smile.  
  
“Nesrin would have loved that!”, he whispered hoarsely before fully wrapping his arms around Minho and giving the alpha a tight hug.  
“Thank you Lino! Thank you for letting me let go of all that!”  
  
It was a miracle to him, how the alpha had known, what he had needed, even though he himself had been clueless of it.  
  
When he pulled back, Minho was smiling at him.  
  
“Don't thank me!”, the alpha ushered gently.  
“Rather go and tell Chan-hyung, that you are alright! I had to throw him the scariest look before, so he wouldn't barge in on our crying session. The poor guy looked very concerned!”  
  
Turning his head, Jisung could see Chan's broad form standing a few meters away from them, shifting in his position in obvious discomfort.  
  
Untangling himself from Minho, Jisung flashed the alpha one last smile.  
  
“Thank you for dancing with me!”, he grinned.  
“But I think, you should dance with Jinnie, too, now! He loves dancing and is also really good at it!”  
  
Chuckling, Minho ruffled his own hair.  
  
“Right, you told me!”, he mumbled.  
“Well I'm always ready to dance!”  
  
The words let Jisung snicker.  
  
“I'll sent him over!”, he simply replied before heading over to Chan with the intention to calm his older friend.  
  
And around them, the fireflies danced on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the last one of my in-advance-prepared Scenes! Now you guys gotta wait, until i am able to produce proper sentences again (as in, i Need my writers block to go fuck itself and leave me alone!)
> 
> Please be Patient with me!!! :/
> 
> Stay save and comment whenever you like!;)


	11. #11: how Minho got his scar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: 
> 
> GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF INJURIES/BLOOD/GORE + ANXIETY
> 
> also, if you are weak with reading about animals being killed, you shouldn't read this either, because this chapter includes a detailed hunting-scene!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO FINALLY FINISHED MINHO'S SCENE!!!
> 
> im sorry, it took me so Long, but writing really was hard These last few weeks! I'll give my best in catching up with all the Scenes i still plan on writing, but i might take a Little more time!
> 
> Now, enjoy and feel free to comment below, what you think about it!:)

“EDGE IT TOWARDS THE RIGHT!”

Minho only shortly let his gaze leave the slim form of the fleeing deer to check the height of the fallen tree trunk blocking his path, before he snapped it back.  
His legs managed the jump all on their own and for a moment, Minho was sure, his body was levitating in the air.

The adrenaline of the hunt was rushing through his veins as sparkling droplets of energy connected to his blood. 

Normally, their hunts included a lot less running, since the average deer was easily able to outrun their two legs.  
But this one they had managed to track down today, was limping heavily on it's right side, which was the only reason, why Minho still refused to give their prey up. 

Every time, they forced the deer to make a turn into the right direction, it's leg would buckle underneath the weight being put on it.  
Minho was sure, he would be close enough for the final jump in only a few more seconds.

Woojin, who was running to the deer's other side as a determined shadow breaking through the branchwood, closed in on their prey again.  
Driven by the instinct to avoid the closest threat first, the deer swerved into Minho's path. 

As predicted, the change of direction made the deer stumble once more and Minho could feel the insistent squirming inside his chest, when his inner wolf came to life, awoken by the thrill of the hunt.

His senses zeroed in on his prey.  
He could only smell it's scent drenched in panic, could only hear it's thundering heart inside it's ribcage.

It mirrored his own and yet, Minho's pulse was high for an entire different reason. 

Because right now, he was the predator.

And the deer was his prey!

Pulling out his hunting knife with one swift movement, Minho forced his legs to accelerate their tempo even more.  
By now, he wasn't even sure anymore, how he managed to keep going.  
They had been running for quite some time, yet Minho was still high on endorphin. 

His bones were as light as simple feathers, his lungs big enough to inhale all of the world's oxygen at once and he could have sworn, he would have been able to lift entire trees with all the strength he believed to feel lurking around in his working muscles.

One more time, the deer stumbled due to a perfectly timed push by Woojin and Minho didn't wait for their prey to give him another chance.

His inner wolf barked out a fierce howl, just when his feet catapulted him off the ground and right onto the deer.

Stubborn fur poked his left hand, then Minho tightened his grip around the deer's neck.  
His added weight threw the injured animal off balance almost immediately, causing it to loose it's footing.

Still clinging to the animal's body with one arm, Minho snapped his armed hand upwards and drew it over the deer's throat with one swift movement.  
  
The iron scent of blood exploded in the air and a few warm droplets landed on Minho's face.   
  
It let his inner wolf pull back in content satisfaction, and Minho could feel the corners of his mouth tugging upwards in a grin when giddy pride invaded his chest to dance up his spine.

The next moment, the momentum of the deer crashing down threw Minho off. 

He had known, it would happen, but he hadn't anticipated, how strong the force would actually be. 

This time, Minho really did fly. 

Pictures flashed past his eyes.  
The trees. The ground. The sky. The trees. 

The blow was hard, when Minho's shoulder collided with the earthy ground of the forest, but luckily, Minho managed to redirect the unpredicted movement into something controllable.

Rolling off over his back, he tried to get back onto his own two feet while simultaneously dropping his hunting knife on instinct to not injure himself further.  
  
Good, that his inner wolf always thought of things like that!  
Minho really wasn't keen on impaling himself accidentally with that weapon! 

He still had too much momentum to stay on his feet, so Minho toppled over once more.  
  
Again, he managed to somewhat save his spine and limbs from the heaviest attack of gravity, when suddenly, the even ground tilted downwards and away from him. 

A shocked yelp escaped Minho's throat, as his rolling movement only got faster.  
Any control he had had before was ripped from him by his velocity. He could barely take in anything anymore, his vision was only filled with colors flashing past his eyes.

Green. Brown. Blue. Green. Brown. Blue.

His arm landed on something incredibly hard, and Minho cried out in pain.  
Next, he felt branches scratching up his face and neck.  
Then his calf got caught and the sudden resistance wheeled Minho around, before his leg was freed again by the force of his weight urging downhill.

And then, within one second, everything came to such an abrupt stop, that all the air got pressed right out of Minho's lungs.  
  
A breathless sputter fought its way up his throat. 

His surroundings had cleared again, now that they weren't flying past him anymore, but nonetheless, his vision was a little hazy.  
  
Minho saw the green of the forest, the leaves, the brown foliage he was lying on.  
Everything was wavering a little.

He had fallen onto his side.  
A huge tree had stopped him, lying there on the ground in a similar fashion as he himself did, with its branches spread out like dead limbs. 

Trying to turn onto his back, Minho had to find out, that something was holding him back.

That was, when he fully registered the pain.

Sharp, blazing agony fretting it's way into his side like a hungry animal, ready to devour him.  
  
Mouth opening just as wide as his eyes, Minho wanted to cry out, but nothing left his lips but a weak groan. 

Instinctively, he reached down to press against his stomach, but his hand got stopped by something hard sticking out of his guts.  
When he let his gaze flicker towards his own body, Minho recognized, what it was.

His momentum from rolling down the hillside had thrown him right into the arms of the old fallen tree, that had stopped him. Had impaled him with one of it's claw-like branches.

A hoarse moan could be heard, and Minho needed a moment to understand, that it had come from him. 

For some reason, everything around him had began to move in slow motion.  
A loud static noise was blocking his hearing, only letting his own sounds through in a very twisted way.

Minho could feel his own panting, could sense his chest rising and falling with such alacrity that the rational part of his brain was concerned about him hyperventilating.  
  
He wanted to shuffle backwards, to get away from the tree and the pain in his side, but every movement only strengthened his agony, so eventually, he gave up with a desperate whimper.

He couldn't move, couldn't save himself.  
He was helpless and hurting and while before, the rush of the hunt had let him feel high with excitement, now Minho felt anything but invincible. 

His own vulnerability scared him, the pain made him hypersensitive of any kind of contact with anything, and to top things off, Minho had lost sight of his packmates ever since he had killed the deer from before. 

Jeongin and Woojin were no where to be seen or smelled, Minho couldn't even hear them anywhere and it drove him closer and closer to the edge.  
  
Being alone was one thing, but being alone while injured severely and scared out of one's wits was a whole different story.

One Minho wasn't very willing to listen to until the end.

“Woo?”

Minho hated himself for how fragile his voice sounded. So weak and small.  
But the loneliness and the pain were gnawing at his pride, were slowly but persistently feeding off his rising fear, and it rendered Minho desperate.

He hadn't been alone in a long time!  
He hadn't been alone even once ever since Seungmin and Woojin had found and helped him back in the city to be precise.  
  
The three of them plus Jeongin had been together ever since and Minho was so used to relying on them by now, that he had forgotten, what it felt like to be all on his own.

“Woo?”, he called again, but beside his thin voice, no other noises could be heard. 

Where was the alpha? And where was Jeongin? Why was no one coming? Weren't they looking for him?

Minho hadn't cried in years, but the pain in his stomach, compared with his growing fear forced burning tears into his eyes.  
They didn't fall, but they blurred Minho's vision and made him feel even more disabled.

“Woojin!”, he cried out one last time.  
His voice broke, but Minho didn't care anymore. 

He just wanted Woojin to hear him!  
He wanted to smell his best friend beside himself, wanted to hear his voice!  
He just didn't want to be alone anymore and for the pain to stop!

“Min! Oh fuck!”

Woojin's voice was still far away, but nonetheless, it's tone pierced through the fog clouding Minho's head, immediately calming him and letting his heart jump with joy.

“I'm here!”, he croaked out as loudly as he felt capable of.  
“Woo, I'm here!”

The rustling of loose foliage, combined with rushing steps could be heard, before finally, Woojin's strong scent enveloped Minho.  
Groggily, he turned his head a bit to be able to look into Woojin's concerned eyes.

“You idiot!”, the alpha scolded him and Minho couldn't help but smile weakly despite the still throbbing pain in his side.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to!”, he assured his friend, referring to his accident.  
“It just kind of happened!”

“You scared us half to death!”, Woojin chastised, as his hand reached out to push Minho's bangs out of his eyes. 

Minho hadn't even noticed, how they had been bothering his vision, until it cleared thanks to Woojin freeing it.

“Where is Innie?”, he asked.  
Talking to Woojin distracted him a bit from the branch in his guts.

“He stayed with the prey that you caught!”, Woojin answered with a soft smile.  
Then, his expression turned more serious.

“Where did you hurt yourself?”, he questioned honestly and Minho grit his teeth at the reminder, that made his wound all the more perceptible.

“I think I kind of gutted myself!”, he replied. 

Woojin made a choking noise.

“You're joking, right?”, he rasped out. 

Oh heavens, Minho wished he were!

“Unfortunately,”, he gave back with one look thrown towards the spot, where the branch of the dead tree was still stuck inside of his stomach, “I'm pretty sure I am not, if the pain is anything to go by!”

Eyes widening, Woojin apparently only just now realized, why Minho wasn't moving. 

“Shit!”, he simply breathed out and Minho clung to the word despite it's brevity.

“Language!”, he croaked in the attempt to lighten the mood a little - his as well as Woojin's – but the older only threw him an half exasperated, half worried glare.

“We gotta get that thing out of you!”, Woojin eventually mumbled.  
“We have to get you home to Seungmin!”

“Totally with you on that!”, Minho agreed. 

The pain wasn't as spiking anymore, since he refrained from moving at all despite his arm slowly going numb under him, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.  
And besides, Minho really wasn't keen of his immobility.  
He wanted to go home!

“But how are we gonna do that?”

He was pretty sure, the branch wouldn't just allow them to pull it out without much further ado.  
  
And to be honest, Minho was also fucking scared of the pain it would certainly bring him.

Contemplatively, Woojin eyed the branch in Minho's stomach one more time.  
Minho himself had done it a few times already, so he knew the sight. 

Wood as thick as a human wrist sticking out of his torn and bloodied shirt, right above the waistline of his pants.  
He was in no need to inspect it one more time.

“I think, it would be best, if I break off the branch itself and let Seungmin decide of how to get it out!”, Woojin suddenly exclaimed.  
“He knows best of what to do!”

Flashing his friend a doubtful look, Minho bit his lip.

“Will you be able to just break it off?”, he asked warily. 

The branch wasn't that thin after all, even though he knew, Woojin was quite strong. 

His friend hesitated for a second, and his sudden silence did nothing in soothing Minho's nerves.  
  
The premonition of the pain that would inevitably come with whatever they decided on doing was not exactly pleasant company either and despite Woojin's presence, Minho's breathing picked up again from the fear inside of him growing back to it's previous size.

“I don't care, what you do!”, he quickly pressed out between his clenched teeth.  
“Just please do it quickly!”

Furrowing his brows, Woojin lightly pressed his palm against Minho's forehead.  
The touch was cool.

“Min, you're heating up!”, the alpha murmured and Minho couldn't help but snort at that.  
The fogginess was starting to return but as of yet, his mind was still clear enough to understand the absurdity of Woojin's words.

“Well, no shit, Woo!” (I felt so damn tempted to write 'no shit, sherlock'...), he retorted dryly.  
“I've got a fucking branch stuck in my guts! I don't think, my body is all too delighted about that fact!”

Sighing, Woojin nodded. 

“Sorry, my bad!”, he affirmed before reaching out to fondle the branch, that had impaled Minho. 

Inhaling sharply, Minho clenched his teeth in the expectation of immediate pain, but Woojin rubbed soothing circles into his shoulder while not moving the branch even an inch.

“It's okay, Min, I will warn you beforehand!”, he promised.  
“I'm just trying to figure out how to break it in the fastest way!”

“Just do it!”, Minho groaned. 

Even the slightest shifts of his body sent waves of fierce pain through his entire lower half and he could feel his patience running thinner and thinner with every passing minute.  
He wanted out and despite being scared of the pain, he was even more terrified of being as vulnerable as he currently was.

“Alright, don't kill me!”, Woojin simply replied before getting up and firmly grabbing onto the end of the branch, that stuck out of Minho.  
The slight vibration his action sent through the stick, made Minho whimper.

“I won't, if you hurry up!”, he cried out.

“I'm gonna kick it into two halves!”, Woojin informed him instead of a proper response.  
“It's gonna be fucking painful because of the harsh movement, but that way, I can guarantee, that it will work at the first try!”

“For the love of the heavens, would you please just hurry!”, Minho snapped back. 

Sweat run down his temples and dripped down his nose. He wasn't entirely sure, whether it was caused by fear or pain.

Without further ado, Woojin positioned himself.

“Countdown?”, he asked and inside Minho, his inner wolf shot up, his pain and vulnerability converting into fury.

“ _No_ , Woojin, just fucking-”, Minho growled but cut himself off with a pained cry, when Woojin didn't waste another second but just delivered a strong kick to the branch. 

The abrupt movement rocked through Minho's body as well and he was certain, his stomach had just gotten turned inside out with how roughly the wood indebted in him was pulled backwards.

The immense pain drove Minho's inner wolf even wilder and once more, a weird haze began clouding his mind, as he instinctively growled at the figure in front of him, who now crouched down.

“Easy, Min, it's okay!”, Woojin's calm voice reached his ears and Minho forced himself to blink a few times to get rid of the fog, as well as his own tears.

“Sorry!”, he growled.  
He was sure, his teeth were still bared, but Woojin didn't seem to mind it.

“Not sure, whether you have realized, but the force of my kick pulled the branch out of you rather than breaking the stick!”, he explained with an apologetic expression.  
  
“Apparently it wasn't as deep in as we thought at first, but that doesn't change the fact, that your wound is now bleeding pretty heavily!”

Forgetting his anger, Minho glanced down at his stomach to inspect the damage.  
Woojin was right.

Where before the branch had been, was now a hole in his clothes and a gaping wound in his abdomen.  
  
Deep red blood was gushing out of it and dripped onto the foliage-covered ground and for a second, Minho believed to see the forest starting to spin around him.

“Min, focus on me please!”

Woojin's voice pulled him back to reality and Minho forced himself to nod at his friend's words.

“Alright, let's get you home!”, the older ordered while grabbing Minho's upper arm to lift him up.  
  
Minho tried to assist him as much as possible, but even the slightest movement sent waves of pain up his nerves and after a few seconds, he stopped entirely with a small whimper. 

Grunting, Woojin heaved him up.

“No offense, Min, but I'm not sure if I will be able to carry you all the way back like this!”, Woojin pressed out, as he pulled Minho's arm over his shoulders and wrapped his own around Minho's waist to steady him.

“The way back to the apartment-tower is not exactly short!”

“I'll help!”, Minho assured after catching his breath.  
  
It had picked up even from just letting Woojin pull him into a standing position without him even doing anything.

“Just let me brace myself for a moment!”

“Yeah, no, sorry but we need to move now!”, Woojin objected determinedly.  
“You are at the risk of bleeding out and the longer we stand here, the weaker you will get!”

Without further warning, he started moving and Minho had to bite his lip hard to not cry out one more time. 

Dull pain filled his abdomen and he had to mobilize every ounce of will he still had left inside of him to get his legs to copy Woojin's steps.  
  
After a few minutes, he began counting them, while his surrounding's blurred again.  
__________

How they made it back to the apartment-tower, Minho didn't know. 

He remembered, that at some point, Jeongin had joined them and helped to carry him from the other side as well.  
Other than that, the whole trip had felt like dreamwalking to Minho. 

Dreamwalking through a nightmare!

When he finally picked up on Seungmin's scent and realized, that they had entered the building's main hall already, Minho was ready to cry from relief.  
  
Finally he could lie down!

“Heavens, Hyung, what happened!”

Seungmin sounded anything but his normal calm self, as he jumped up from his spot beside their campfire. Jeongin left Minho's side, probably to explain everything, while Woojin dragged Minho over to one of the sheets they had found within the building and now used as bedding. 

Stumbling, Minho set his gaze on the resting place and only allowed his legs to give out, when he had finally reached it. 

Lying down felt like heaven, even with the pain still throbbing in his stomach and he sighed softly.  
  
At least, now he didn't have to move his legs anymore.  
At least, now he could give his body the rest it craved.

“Yah, Minho-hyung! No sleeping!”, Seungmin's insistent voice suddenly pierced through Minho's newfound peace.  
He groaned in protest.

“Open your eyes!”

Even in his groggy state, Minho knew, that Seungmin rather was not to be argued with, so he pried his heavy eyes open once more to shoot the younger an exasperated glare. 

Although, he wasn't too sure, whether his exhaustion didn't actually eliminate every ounce of annoyance he could have possibly shown on his face.

To his big surprise, Seungmin appeared nervous. Scared nervous!

“I will have to treat your wound!”, Seungmin explained.  
  
His voice was trembling and the fact somehow let fear rise in Minho's chest as well. 

Why did Seungmin look so disturbed?

“So treat it then!”, he rasped out and Seungmin bit his lip violently. 

“I'm so sorry, hyung!”, he then choked out, while his hand reached out to squeeze Minho's shortly.  
“But this is gonna hurt a lot!”

“Pretty sure, it can't be worse, than what I already went through!”, Minho tried to joke, but when he met Seungmin's apologetic eyes one more time, he knew, he was about to go through hell.  
__________

With shaking fingers, Seungmin pushed the blade of his knife deeper into the fire.

From the moment he had first laid eyes on Minho's wound, he had known, that today would be the first time in his life, that he would have to follow one of Yuqi's last instructions.

Even back then, when his mentor had first told him about the way of treatment of bigger wounds out in the wild, he had found it horrendous to even consider. 

Forcing someone through even more pain than they already were in sounded nothing like the values he had directed his life at after focusing on healing and he had been repelled by the simple idea of ever actually doing it. 

Now, however, confronted with an injury, that Yuqi had insisted needed such cruel treatment, he knew, he wouldn't have any other choice but to pull through with it.

Despite his insides churning so vehemently, that Seungmin had to press his lips together to keep himself from gagging.  
Despite his hands wanting to flinch back from the weapon that normally was meant to kill instead of help someone survive. 

But this was for Minho and Seungmin couldn't just back out of it, as much as he wanted to.  
This was the only thing he really could do after all.

Heal!

“Seungmin, we are ready!”

Shoving his second knife into the embers as well, Seungmin turned towards his brother, who had pulled Minho closer on his sheet.  
Closer to the fire, where Seungmoin needed him for the operation.

“Is my understanding of the situation correct, when I grasp it you want to stop my bleeding by plugging the hole in my stomach with a hot knife?”

Minho's voice was terrified and sarcastic at the same time, yet so uncharacteristically weak for the hot-headed alpha, that a cold shudder ran down Seungmin's spine in fear.  
  
Apparently the bloodloss was already affecting the boy.  
Seungmin would have to act fast!

“I...yes, that's basically it!”, Seungmin answered, as he shuffled over to position himself right beside Minho.  
After a short moment of contemplation, he got up once more to step over Minho onto his other side, where the wound was located.

“And you are sure, that's the right way to go about this?”, Minho questioned, his voice heavy with exhaustion and doubt, as Seungmin settled down for real this time.  
Woojin had helped the alpha to take his shirt off, so it would be easier for Seungmin to reach the wound.

Pressing his lips together, Seungmin nodded. 

“It's how Yuqi-noona taught me to deal with severely bleeding injuries that are under the risk of getting infected by possible dirt or bacteria!”, he explained, partly to assure Minho and partly to remind himself.

Minho's face contorted into a weak nose-scrunch. 

“What does 'bacteria' mean?”, he questioned and Seungmin almost smiled. 

He would have, if his facial muscles hadn't felt just as paralyzed as the rest of his body.

“Not to ruin both of your fun, but I think, we need to hurry!”, Woojin interrupted them.  
  
He had sat down on Minho's other side, opposite Seungmin and was holding onto the alpha's wrist to measure his pulse.

“How is his heart rate?”, Seungmin demanded to know, while he pulled the bucket with water closer, that Jeongin had brought him with a lot of effort before leaving the hall on Woojin's instructions. 

His brother frowned down at Minho, who was slowly letting his eyes droop shut again.

“It's surprisingly slow despite his injury!”, he informed Seungmin and the healer barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes.  
It wasn't Woojin's fault after all, that Seungmin had a way broader knowledge of things concerning the human body and health.

“It's not slow _despite_ but _because_ of his injury!”, he corrected. 

He really tried to hide his own nervousness, but there was an audible strain to his voice nonetheless. 

“His bloodloss is starting to take a toll on him, which is why we have to act fast and preferably _now_!”

Delivering a harsh slap to Minho's arm, Seungmin snarled at the alpha, who snapped his eyes back open in shock. 

“Do _not_ pass out!”

Seungmin was unsure, whether it wouldn't actually be better for Minho to pass out.  
Maybe that way, the alpha wouldn't take notice of the bigger part of the procedure. 

But Seungmin was weak and Seungmin was scared and Seungmin was only fourteen!  
  
And because of all that, Seungmin was too scared of the thought of Minho loosing consciousness, of the alpha stopping to respond to him.

“I'm awake, chill!”, Minho mumbled with furrowed brows, but his eyes had a weird haze hanging over them, as if a part of him was caught somewhere far away from reality.

Inhaling deeply to calm his thumping heart, Seungmin gazed at Woojin for a second.  
His brother returned the look with a serious expression.

“Ready?”, he asked and Seungmin forced himself to nod. 

He couldn't afford not to be!

“Hand me one of the knives!”, he ordered. 

The fake determination in his tone sounded so real, that Seungmin almost managed to fool himself as well.

“Careful, they are hot! Then scoot up a little higher and hold down Minho-hyung's arms!”

“Hold down my arms?”

Apparently, Minho was still listening.  
Good!

“Is that really necessary?”

Seungmin carefully took the heated knife, that Woojin held out to him.  
The blade was tinted orange with how high it's temperature was and Seungmin felt, as if the color was burning itself into his vision. Even from a distance, he could sense the heat of the metal searing in the air.

“Trust me,”, he mumbled grimly, eyes still set at the weapon in his hands that he had sworn once to never use against a human being. “it will be once I start!”  
_____

Sick.  
That was how Seungmin felt when Minho started screaming a second time. 

He had felt it the first time too, but the urge to throw up was rising exponentially.  
The horrible scent of burned flesh was also not improving his situation and Seungmin had to dig his nails into his arm to fight back his gags, as well as his tears.

His inner wolf was thrashing inside him, urging him to stop hurting his packmate.  
If it hadn't been for Seungmin constantly reminding himself, that this was the only way to save Minho, he was sure, he wouldn't have been able to continue with the procedure.  
He barely was, even now.

Shortly, Seungmin pulled back to switch the first knife against the second one that was still waiting for him in the fire.

The blade of the first had lost it's orange shine after cooling down, but in exchange, now red streaks were decorating the silver metal.  
  
Suengmin hastily shoved the dirtied knife into the fire and pulled out the next to continue with the operation. 

Minho started screaming and thrashing again, when Seungmin pressed the glowing blade back into his wound.  
The alpha was soaked with sweat and had his teeth bared at Woojin, who was feverishly trying to hold his best friend down.

He didn't have time to check at the moment, but Seungmin was pretty certain, Minho's pulse had gone back up.  
Maybe even a little too much...

“Ouch, damn it!”

Cursing, Seungmin ducked to avoid Minho's legs.  
The furious alpha had started kicking to defend himself against the immense pain Seungmin was causing him. 

Unfortunately was the immense pain necessary to save his ass, but Minho's inner wolf didn't know that.

“Woojin, talk to him!”, Seungmin urged.  
“Tell him to stop kicking!”

“What makes you think, he will listen?”, Woojin retorted through clenched teeth, as he tried to get Minho back under control.  
“He doesn't even listen to me, while he is being reasonable!”

“Not him!”, Seungmin objected exasperatedly. 

His patience was wearing dangerously thin with how much stress and pressure his inner wolf was under right now. 

“His _wolf_! Talk to his wolf! Yours is stronger than his and his trusts yours! If you can get his wolf to understand, that this is the thing, that will help Minho survive, then his wolf can keep him still, even if Minho's first reflex would be to keep defending himself!”

Woojin threw him a quick glance but obeyed and leaned over Minho.  
A deep growl left his lips as his scent got stronger.  
  
It was reassuring and stressing to Seungmin at the same time and he forced himself to keep his attention on Minho's wound. 

The alpha had stopped kicking and was now only weakly struggling against Woojin. 

Another raging noise left his lips, that reminded of a growl as well, but when Woojin immediately returned the sound, Minho's inner wolf seemed to cave in.  
Letting his lips drop back over his bared teeth, Minho choked out a broken sob.

It pained Seungmin physically that he had to continue, but the wound was still oozing blood. 

Again, he switched the knives, since the fresh one had cooled down during the time he had waited for Minho to calm down. 

Then he buried his teeth in his lower lip and his blade in Minho's injury.

Another gurgling scream ripped through the silence of the hall.  
It was filled with so much agony, that Seungmin meant to feel his own stomach being torn apart and torched alive.

But he couldn't stop. He wasn't allowed to!

He could tell, it was working, because with every time Seungmin pressed the glowing knife back into the wound, the horrendous noise of sizzling blood and melting skin accompanied Minho's shouts.  
  
It meant, the wound was closing, but that didn't stop the bile from rising within Seungmin's dry throat again and again, returning every time he managed to swallow it back down.

And then, finally, he pulled out of Minho's wound for the last time. 

The sewing job afterwards went fast and unproblematic, although it took a little of maneuvering to create a straight edge to sew along on the round wound. 

But Seungmin had stitched injuries thousands of times already, thanks to his and Woojin's parents.  
It was familiar territory and now, at least Seungmin could actually see, that he was closing up a wound instead of worsening it!

When he placed the final stitch and loosened the needle from the threat he had taken from one of the first aid kits, that him and Jeongin had found in the building once, Seungmin was close to breaking down. 

His body seemed so incredibly powerless and weak, his hands were shaking.  
The room was spinning around him and for a few seconds, Seungmin actually feared, he might pass out.

Eventually however, the spinning slowed down and his heart stopped beating a thousand miles per hour. 

Seungmin took in a few deep breaths to make sure, he wouldn't collapse, before he reached for the rolled up bandage within the first aid kit he was using. 

Quickly he patched Minho up.  
Even in their shaky state, his fingers automatically knew what to do, how to gently wrap the long bandage around Minho's middle with Woojin's help, who held the injured alpha up; how to place the soft pads underneath it on the wound to spare it from any kind of friction.

This was, what Seungmin had learned to do. What he could do even in his sleep.

And then, it was done.

With a relieved sigh, Woojin released Minho's wrists to sit up.

“Thank goodness this is over!”, he groaned as he bend his back until it gave a low crack when his spine shifted back in it's normal position. 

Turning towards Seungmin, Woojin plastered a warm smile on his face.

“You did so well, Minnie!”, he praised.  
“Without you, this would have ended pretty ugly! Great job! You're really amazing!”

Normally, Seungmin was a sucker for praise about the thing he could do best.  
  
He loved the pleasant hum of satisfaction it left behind in his chest and the gentle glimmer in Woojin's eyes, whenever his older brother was proud of him.

But right now, Seungmin partly wished, his brother would simply asked him, how he was feeling.

Because Seungmin didn't feel amazing. Or proud. 

He felt like the most worthless piece of scum on this earth, helpless and awful.  
And all he wanted to do, was bury his head in his brother's chest and cry his eyes out.

_Crying makes you weak!_

Swallowing the lump in his throat back down, Seungmin returned his brother's smile weakly. 

“Thanks, I'm aware!”, he tried to joke, but his voice sounded weirdly lifeless. 

Fortunately, Woojin didn't seem to notice as he turned towards Minho and reached out to push the alpha's sweaty bangs out of his face. 

Minho's eyes were closed, his arms and hands completely limp and for a second, fear cursed through Seungmin once more.

“Minho-hyung?”, he asked carefully, but Woojin shook his head.

“He passed out, while you were stitching him up.”, he explained quietly.  
“I have by far not as much knowledge about these things, as you do, but I am pretty sure, we can let him rest, right?”

Seungmin let his fingers wrap around Minho's wrist to search for his pulse.  
When he found it, the strong and steady beat dispelled his gnawing anxiety.

“Yeah, he is fine! It's okay!”, he replied to his brother and Woojin gave another soft smile.  
Then, he pushed himself up from the ground.

“I'm pulling him a little further away from the fire, before I'll go and look after Jeongin, okay?”, he declared and Seungmin only nodded.

Sure, Jeongin needed attention right now.  
The youngest had been all on his own outside, far away from the operation, but the local distance had surely not stopped Minho's screams from reaching his sensitive ears.

His movements were as if in slow motion, while Seungmin packed his things back up.  
It wasn't much he had to clean up anyways. 

The first-aid-kit. The dirtied towls.  
Seungmin would have to wash those later on.

Forcing his wobbly legs to carry him, Seungmin got up as well so Woojin could take his spot and pull Minho's sheets away from the campfire.

“Take the bucket with you, when you go, will you?”, Seungmin mumbled in his brother's direction.  
He only got an affirmative hum in return, before he crossed the main hall towards the infirmary.

The small room smelled a little like herbs and chemicals, like always, but to Seungmin, it was comforting.  
The reassurance, that here, it was just him and medicine, was like a steady reminder, that he was a healer.  
Someone who helped and cured people instead of hurting them.

He carefully placed the used first-aid-kit back on the crooked shelf beside the two other kits.  
The towels he would later on take down to the stream to wash them clean of all the blood they had soaked up.

“Minnie, I'm heading out!”, came Woojin's muffled voice from the main hall.  
“It will probably take a while, since Innie and I still need to go collect the body of the deer!”

The words let Seungmin's heat drop into his stomach. He didn't want to be alone right now!

“Okay, see you in a few! Make sure Innie is fine!”, he yelled back nonetheless. 

This was ridiculous!  
Woojin wasn't leaving for days after all.  
His brother would be right back with Jeongin in tow.

When Seungmin stepped out of the medical room again, the main hall was completely deserted, save for Minho's slumped form on the sheets. 

Slowly, Seungmin strode over to the unconscious alpha and crouched down beside him. 

Woojin had placed a blanket over Minho's bare torso to keep the alpha from freezing and the big cloth somehow made Minho seem very small.  
So much smaller than Seungmin was used from him.

Sure, Minho had always been a little shorter than him.  
Everyone was a little shorter than Seungmin to be exact, even his older brother by now. 

But Seungmin was so used to Minho's snappish strength, that he wasn't sure of how to deal with the boy's weakness.

Minho and him had always butted heads.  
Ever since the first time they had met, Seungmin remembered them bickering at any given opportunity. 

Minho was just so different from and at the same time similar to him, that they always found shared topics they disagreed on.

But despite their differences, Seungmin knew, he would always give his all to help Minho.  
And in return, he could always rely on the older as well. 

Minho was annoying, yes, but he was still his hyung.  
A hot-headed but strong alpha, ready to fight for his small pack at all times.

Now however, Minho wasn't strong and ready to fight.  
Right now, Minho wasn't even moving, and it scared Seungmin. 

He was aware, that Minho was alright. His knowledge about medicine told him so.  
  
But nonetheless, the alpha's momentary vulnerability sprang over to Seungmin and crept up his arms, until it filled his chest. 

The lump in his throat began forming again.  
It was big and heavy, seemingly pressing down on Seungmin's lungs and hurt him, when he tried to swallow.

He had made Minho this weak! He had hurt him to the point, where Minho had passed out!

 _'It's okay, Seungmin, you had to!'_ , he told himself over and over again, but as much as his head knew, it was true, his heart couldn't seem to believe his own words.

Hot burned the tears on his skin, when Seungmin couldn't hold them back any longer.  
He knew, he was weak to cry, but right now, at least no one was watching.

He was alone after all.

The realization only increased the size of the knot in his throat and Seungmin choked out a broken sob.  
But the noise sounded so terribly hostile and threatening in the lonely width of the empty hall that he quickly pressed his hand onto his mouth to keep himself quiet.

Sob after sob rocked his body and there was nothing, Seungmin could do to stop them, apart from preventing them from getting too loud.  
Only when a low groan cut through the room, he instinctively froze.  
Hand still slapped over his mouth, he stilled, while Minho stirred.

“Son of a bitch!”, the alpha rasped out after a few seconds and some more groans.  
“I feel like a hoard of boars ran me over!”

His words were like food for the lump in Seungmin's throat to feed of and grow stronger from. 

Another sob escaped him, and although muffled, it seemed to reach Minho's sharp ears.

Seungmin had always simultaneously hated and loved the alpha's enhanced sense of hearing.

“Seungmin? What's wrong, why are you crying?”, Minho mumbled hoarsely while blinking a few times, probably to clear his vision.  
“Did Woojin brand you, too?”

The reminder of what he had done to Minho broke down Seungmin's last dam.

His hand fell off his mouth and released his vehement sobs.  
Too late to hide it now anyways.

“Hyung, I'm so sorry!”, he wailed out while feverishly trying to wipe his eyes clean from all the tears.  
But they simply weren't stopping, rendering his attempts futile.

“I'm so sorry, I hurt you!”

“Wait, Minnie, what?”

Minho now sounded entirely perplexed as he tried to push himself up. 

Instinctively, Seungmin jolted up and pressed him back down with a hand on Minho's chest.  
The alpha's heartbeat was still steady.

“Down!”, Seungmin ordered while still crying. 

His voice was trembling and he hated himself for it.  
This was pathetic!  
Crying wouldn't get him anywhere and it wouldn't undo Minho's pain either.

“Fine, I'll stay down!”, Minho grumbled, before his hand carefully took Seungmin's and pulled it off his chest.

“What are you apologizing for though?”, he then asked.  
His gaze was genuinely clueless with his usual almond-eyes slightly widened in confusion. 

“You kinda saved me, didn't you?”

Seungmin pressed his lips together in an attempt to stifle his cries as he shook his head vehemently.

“I hurt you so much!”, he whimpered. 

Minho's screams had sounded so very pained.  
Even now, Seunmgin could still hear them echoing off the walls of the main hall.

“I just didn't know, how else to stop the bleeding! I'm so sorry!”

A tug on his hand made Seungmin look up to meet Minho's eyes.  
The alpha's look was uncharacteristically gentle.

“Minnie, stop that right now!”, he ordered firmly but with a soft tone to the words.  
“You did nothing wrong! This pain I felt was not your fault!”

Tugging on Seungmin's hand one more, Minho sighed.

“It wasn't pretty, I'll admit that, but it still wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have gotten myself impaled in the first place! You just did what you had to to do what you do best!”

He smiled, that slim, yet warm Minho-smile he owned.  
It worked wonders in diminishing the knot in Seungmin's throat despite the bags under Minho's eyes.

“You save people, Minnie!”

A few more breathy sobs rocked Suengmin's chest, before the movement of his chest finally evened out into something calmer.  
His eyes were burning, when Seungmin used his sleeve to wipe them dry once more.  
This time, no new tears appeared.

“Did I burn out your usual snark when I treated you?”, he finally managed to say. 

His nose was stuffed, which strengthened his nasally voice even more and gave Minho an opportunity to return the potshot right away.

“YoU wiSh!”, the alpha gave back while mockingly impersonating Seungmin's tone.  
“Now come here and keep me company!”

Seungmin sniffed lightly. 

Cuddling with Minho was not something he did all too often.  
Normally it was Woohin or Innie he used to compensate his need for skinship. 

But right now, Minho was the only one here, Seungmin was tired and in dire need of some closure and the alpha smelled comforting.  
Long not as spiking anymore, as he had done the first time they had met.

“You need to rest!”, Seungmin protested nonetheless, just for the sake of it. 

Minho rolled his eyes. 

“Stop nagging and get you're ass here under the blanket, I'm cold!”, he snapped, and Seungmin caved in.

“I highly doubt that, you high-body-temperature-freak!”, he mumbled but crawled over to Minho's uninjured side to slip under the blanket. 

As predicted, Minho's body was as heated as ever, but after all the stress, Seungmin welcomed the warmth.  
Carefully, he snuggled into Minho's awaitingly outstretched arm.

“Now let's sleep, because you look just as much like shit, as I feel!”, Minho grumbled lowly.

Seungmin couldn't help but snort at that.

“Have you seen yourself?”, he asked and Minho huffed.

“Of course not, but I'm always lovely to look at!”, the alpha retorted. 

His words were so much like him, that the last bits of the knot within Seungmin faded away, vaporizing into thin air.

For a few minutes, it was quiet, before Seungmin felt the need to speak up once more.  
He had to voice it, those thoughts, that were still bugging him ever since the operation.

“Hyung?”, he called out carefully.

“Hmhmm?”, came Minho's groggy reply back and Seungmin almost smiled. 

“You are strong, aren't you?”, he asked quietly. 

His face was pressed into the warm skin at Minho's shoulder and he inhaled deeply to reassure his inner wolf with the calming scent of the alpha.

“Well, yeah of fucking course I am!”

Minho sounded offended, even though his audible fatigue was swallowing most of his emotions by now.

Seungmin clutched an edge of the blanket in his hands to have something to hold onto.

“Before, you looked very weak!”, he admitted in a whisper.  
“It scared me. A lot. You're not one to be weak. You are always somewhat older and stronger than me normally!”

Silence enveloped them, before Minho turned his head and opened his eyes to look at Seungmin once more.  
The shrinking flames of the campfire let his dark eyes glow in a faint orange.  
It gave him a fierce look.

“Well, my dear dongsaeng,”, he grinned, white teeth blinking in the twilight.  
“I can assure you, I am and always will be strong enough to protect you and this pack!”

The finger-flick Seungmin delivered to his forehead let Minho wince slightly.

“What was that for?”, he sulked as he almost crushed Seungmin's head in the attempt to reach the sore spot on his forehead with the arm Seungmin had rested his cheek on.

“You are an idiot, hyung!”, Seungmin gave back after being able to breathe again.  
His chest finally felt light. 

“Now sleep and heal!”

“Aye sir!”, Minho retorted with a grin, but his already closed eyes robbed his words of their mocking intent.  
“You too, though!”

“Sure sure!”, Seungmin mumbled back as he got comfortable. 

He was sure, Minho had already dozed off, when the alpha's sleepy voice disrupted the silence once more.

“You did well, Minnie!”

And Seungmin smiled.  
__________

Now look at those two!”, Woojin grinned as he motioned for the tangled forms of Seungmin and Minho, who were fast asleep.  
“Always pretending to hate each others guts and yet they pull stunts like this one!”

Jeongin couldn't hide his smirk either.  
He was pretty sure, this situation was to file under one of Seungmin's weak moments for him to actually cuddle with Minho like this. 

His best friend was usually snarky and bold, but only to hide, that inside, he was fragile enough to sometimes break down as well. 

But despite that, he also knew something else. 

“I think, we are both aware, that _'pretending'_ is the essential word of that sentence of yours!”, he mumbled.  
“The both of them never really hated each other after all!”

Woojin smiled. 

“True words, Innie!”, he replied softly.  
“True words!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo...were you disappointed with how Minho got his scar?  
> I know the Operation-Scene is pretty similar to Channies, but it was the same procedure after all, so...
> 
> anyways, i hope you enjoyed it. I felt in the dire Need of including a bit of Seungmin's unspoken fear, since i made him go through a lot already. I myself tend to Forget, that he is only fourteen at this Point of the book:/  
> .
> 
> Also, im sorry, there is no Felix in here, but he joins Woojin's pack only a few weeks after this Scene, so he isn't present yet here!
> 
> i hope, you guys enjoyed it and i will be happy about any Kind of comment!;)
> 
> Stay save everyone!


End file.
